Alarming situation in Balochistan: malnutrition threatening lives of marginalized groups

The province of Balochistan is facing the risk of malnutrition as evidence of mortality rate among children and women belonging to socially marginalized groups in the province have acquired ominous proportions. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already declared emergency in Balochistan in view of the indicators of Global Acute Malnutrition. Ten out of total 20 high food insecure districts of the country are in this province.
"Against the threshold level of 15 percent classified by the WHO as many as 16 percent of children in Balochistan are acute malnourished, 52.2 percent up to five-year age stunted and 39.6 percent underweight," says Miss Jawahar Habib, Communication Officer, United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Balochistan, talking to APP.
Besides five million children about 70 percent women in the province are too suffering from malnutrition, nearly half of them being anaemic and Vitamin A deficient, as suggested by the National Nutrition data.
The province has the highest infant and mother mortality in the country and that is mainly because of malnutrition. The Nutrition Cell, along with WHO and UNICEF, has been working in nine out of 32 districts of the province, which are highly prone to malnutrition. It has only been able to cover their only 43 percent population leaving the rest 57 percent at the mercy of diseases.
Miss Jawahar notes that the child and mother health situation in the Baloch-populated areas is turned grim. "If preventive measures were not put in place, Tharparkar-like situation may develop in these areas."
Ehtaramul Haq Kabdani, District Nutrition Co-ordinator Kharan, says, "With available resources, we could only cover about 35,000 of the district's estimated population of 170,000." Most of the beneficiaries of anti-malnutrition drive belong to urban areas while more than 90 percent affected people reside in remote parts of the district that need assistance and health education.
According to Akhtar Shah, District Nutrition Co-ordinator Killa Saifullah, less rains growing poverty, small number of lady health workers and insufficient funds impede access to the affected people.
After Sindh, Balochistan has the highest level of food insecurity in the country. About 63 percent of households in the province are food insecure, with 18 percent of them classified as food "insecure with hunger" and 11.5% as food "insecure with severe hunger". Overall 90 percent districts are classified as "extremely high" to "high" food insecure. None is qualified to be "food secure". Except the areas bordering Punjab, most of the province is mountainous, relatively barren and arid, and not suitable for agriculture. Only 15% of average household monthly income in the province comes from crops production or livestock.
"There is continued high level of food insecurity in Balochistan, caused by uncontrollable factors feeding to the acute malnutrition," says Nicole CARN, provincial chief of World Food Programme (WFP). Though the government has been striving hard to cope with the daunting challenge, but the security situation, geographic location of the province, huge swathe of land and scattered population complexes the issue of malnutrition manifold, she adds.
The WFP along with the provincial government has been assisting the malnourished children, pregnant and lactating women to prevent stunting and micronutrient deficiencies in the nine districts through LHWs. However, only 28 percent of households are reached by LHWs in the province as compared to a national coverage of 83 percent.
The National Nutrition Survey also highlights that micro-nutrient deficiencies in Balochistan are serious. Vitamin A deficiency, which jeopardises the primary functions, including eyesight and reduces immune function leaving the body more susceptible to infection, affects 54 percent women and 73 percent children, the highest in the country.
"The situation in Balochistan will not improve overnight; it requires billions of rupees to cope with the multi-sectored issue of malnutrition," says Dr Nasir Bugti, Provincial Co-ordinator Balochistan Nutrition Programme. Efforts are afoot to root out malnutrition from the province. A lot is yet to be done in the 57 percent uncovered area of the high risk districts, adds Bugti.
Keeping in view of the highest infant and mother mortality rate in Balochistan, it is high time to address the malnutrition, which has multiple co-relations with infections and deadly diseases. Steps are required on war footing by evolving a multi-sectored nutrition strategy and scaling up cross-sectored interventions.
Strengthening inters and intra sectored linkages, and incorporation of nutrition in the curricula at all educational levels will greatly help overcome the daunting challenge effectively.