Ahmed Khan Malik

The World Bank will assist the Sindh government in expanding the scope of Nutrition Support Programme (NSP) to curb stunting and malnutrition among children. This came at a meeting between the caretaker Sindh chief minister and the World Bank country director, according to Zahid Mahmood, Director Health Services, Sindh. He said that growth of children is stunted due to deficiency of necessary nutrients among girls before their marriage, leading to stunting rate of 48% in Sindh. “This lack of nutrition also affects the children’s height,” he said, adding that the wasting (thinness) rate is at a staggering 15% in the province. Mahmood said the Sindh government has worked out a nutrition plan to provide micro-nutrients to the mothers and their children right from their birth up to the age of five. He added that these supplements will also be given to girls, who reach the age of puberty. According to Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, four out of 10 children under the age of five in Sindh are underweight (42%) and 17% are classified as severely underweight.

Almost half of children under five (48%) are stunted or short for their age, and one quarter (24%) of them are severely stunted. The results also show that 15% of children are wasted or thin for their height. Iron deficiency and anaemia affect 62% of women and 73% of children in Sindh, posing a serious health threat. Additionally, more than 70% of mothers in Sindh are vitamin-D deficient. Considering this situation, the Sindh government launched NSP with the financial support of the World Bank.  The programme was launched in nine districts of Sindh, including Larkana, Qamber, Kashmore, Jacobabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Badin, Sanghar, Umerkot and Tharparkar.  The provincial government has also launched another multisector programme – Accelerated Action Plan (AAP) – involving eight departments, including health, education, social security, agriculture, local government, fisheries, livestock and public health.

After the successful implementation of NSP programme by the People’s Primary Healthcare Initiative, the provincial health department approached it to also partner in AAP. As per the initial agreement between PPHI and APP, the former was to provide OTP (nutrition services) in two districts – Sukkur and Mirpurkhas. However, the agreement was revised, and the districts of Khairpur, Naushero Feroze and Ghotki were included in it for provision of such services. Under AAP, 3,827 SAM children in Sukkur and 5,265 in Mirpurkhas were identified. Of these, 1,824 in Sukkur and 2,534 in Mirpurkhas were cured. Similarly, 1,442 health and nutrition sensitive sessions and 1,399 infant and young child feeding sessions were conducted in these districts, covering 39,105 people.

Credit: INP-WealthPk