ADDRESSING an advocacy seminar on breast feeding, President Arif Alvi recommended a multi stakeholder response to arrest malnutrition in Pakistan whilst Special Assistant on Health Dr Faisal Sultan announced the development of a comprehensive program of Rs 312 billion to address all forms of malnutrition amongst women and children with focus on prevention of stunting and management of wasting.
Firstly, it really goes to the credit of President Alvi for always touching upon the most critical issues faced by our society be it the breast cancer or the malnutrition. According to the country’s national survey results, four out of every ten children aged five are stunted, while nearly five million children in the same age group suffer from wasting, or low weight for their height. Then nearly thirteen percent of children in the same age group are faced with some functional disability. Whilst speaking at the seminar, President Arif Alvi dilated upon very important matters that can help us address the issue of malnutrition amongst the infants to a great deal. He urged ulema, media and other stakeholders to promote breastfeeding. Despite being an Islamic country, it is unfortunate that only 27% of babies are fed breast milk exclusively during their first six months. The situation warrants that our religious scholars as well as the media create awareness in the society about the importance of breastfeeding for the infants. At the same time, the healthcare professionals should discourage the increasing trend of bottle feeding and refrain from advising and promoting formula milk. It should not be forgotten that a better diet and nutrition of a mother is also important for a healthy child. Bearing large numbers of children from a young age not only takes a toll on women’s health, but also impacts the well-being of the foetus and the ability to breastfeed a newborn. Therefore, ulema also have a responsibility to play a constructive role in the promotion of family planning according to the teachings of Islam. As regards the mega malnutrition program, we will suggest it should be started from the poorest districts such as Thar where hundreds of children die every year because of malnutrition.
