'Nutrition Centers' Being Set Up In Balochistan For Care Of Malnourished Children: Dr Rubaba

QUETTA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Dec, 2021 ) :Chairperson of Women Parliamentarians Forum in Balochistan Assembly Dr Rubaba Khan Buledi Sunday said the 'Nutrition Centers' were being set up in Balochistan for the care of malnourished children in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).

In a statement issued here, she said about 37 percent of Pakistan's population was malnourished but in Balochistan this rate was around 50 percent.

She said according to Pakistan Nutrition Survey, more than one third children were deprived from nutrition and about 29 percent were in weight lose and more than 17 percent were weak.

A large number of these children belonged to Sindh and Balochistan, she added.

Dr Rubaba Khan Buledi said not only was the export of food items from Pakistan declining but despite being an agricultural country its imports were increasing in this sector which was really a matter of risk.

She said 37% households in Pakistan were facing food insecurity, poverty and lack of resources were the main reasons for this, saying that malnutrition in Pakistan was a challenge to effective diagnosis and management of medical nutrition.

She said many factors affected food security in Pakistan, more importantly, most patients did not know at the time of hospitalization whether the patient had a malnutrition problem.

In such cases, two-thirds of the patients become more malnourished while in the hospitals, she noted that the main reason for this was the lack of trained nutritionists and dietitians in the hospitals of the country which made it impossible for every doctor to treat every patient at the time of admission to check for malnutrition as there was severe shortage of staff in the hospitals.

Dr Rubaba Khan Buledi said the establishment of nutrition stabilization centers for the care of malnourished children in remote areas of Balochistan was an extraordinary development with the efforts of Dr Palitha Mahipala, WHO representative in Pakistan and WHO Quetta Sub Office were commendable.