Stunting, malnutrition cost Pakistan $7.6 billion annually, says international non-profit

KARACHI: An international organization striving to eliminate vitamin and mineral deficiencies in developing countries said on Thursday Pakistan had been paying a massive economic cost of over $7.6 billion annually due to stunting and malnutrition.

Pakistan has a high stunting rate among children along with significant iron deficiency in adult women and young population. According to the National Nutrition Survey of 2018, nearly 40.2 percent of children under the age of five are stunted.

The consequences of micronutrient malnutrition are extensive, including devastating birth defects for babies, impaired brain development in young children, and reduced work capacity among adults. All these things have a huge cost for lives and economies.

“Estimates show that healthcare expenses, illnesses, deaths, decreased physical productivity and impaired cognitive learning caused by micronutrient deficiencies account for three percent loss in gross domestic production [in Pakistan] annually,” said Habib Ur Rehman, a communications expert at Nutrition International (NI), a Canada-based non-profit entity, while briefing journalists in Karachi.

The organization provides nutrition services, including food fortification, to more than 60 countries globally.

“Stunting causes up to a phenomenal 46 percent loss of earnings in later years of life,” he informed, adding that a “$7.6 billion burden is added to the economy with each cohort of newborns annually due to deficiencies.”

“Every $1 invested on food fortification yields a return worth $8,” he said.

Citing the findings of the 2018 survey, the NI official said a total of 54 percent children in Pakistan were anemic while 52 percent were Vitamin A deficient. He added that 63 percent children did not get sufficient Vitamin D, 28.6 percent had iron deficiency and 18.6 percent needed more Zinc in their diet.

He also maintained that 42 percent mothers in the country were anemic, 27 percent suffered due to Vitamin A deficiency while 80 percent needed more Vitamin D.

The National Nutrition Survey, which is conducted after every 10 years, says a majority of mothers and women of childbearing age do not get enough micronutrients that include vitamins and minerals required by the body to survive and thrive.

To address the stunting and malnutrition issues, the country has taken measures such as the National Food Fortification Program – an essential, cost-effective and globally practiced method of improving nutritional status of a population.

Pakistan’s Sindh province also became the first federating unit by passing a legislation on food fortification last December.

“Under the new law, selling food without fortification will be illegal,” Hafeezullah Ghambhir, Nutrition International’s provincial project manager in Sindh, said. “Under the food fortification program, wheat flour is fortified with micronutrients, including iron, folic acid, Vitamin B 12, and zinc.”

He added that only 22 out of 131 flour mills in the province were currently providing fortified grain.

“The fortified flour is estimated to be consumed by only 300,000 people in Sindh,” Ghambhir said, adding: “The cost of fortified packet that contains micronutrients is only Rs1,650 per kilogram, and it is enough to enrich 5,000 kilograms of wheat flour.”

Addressing the media briefing with the NI officials, Director Sindh Food Authority Mehfooz Ahmed Qazi said his organization was trying to build its capacity to enforce the new law in the province along with other stakeholders.

The NI officials informed that a draft food fortification bill had been submitted in the provincial cabinet of Punjab for approval.

They also said the cabinet of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province had already approved another draft bill while the organization wanted the federal government to introduce a mandatory food fortification bill.