USAID Deputy Mission Director Denise Herbol said on 22nd June that Around 46 percent children in Sindh face stunted growth due to malnutrition.
He said that 61 percent of the population was drinking surface water which was not hygienic. "Around 14 percent people drink unimproved water,"
Besides, 53 percent of schools in the province are without latrines. Referring to the commission's report, he said that dirty water was disposed of into the Indus River from at least 414 places in Sindh.
Malnutrition in Pakistan
According to the National Nutrition Survey 2011, one-third of all children are underweight, nearly 44pc are stunted, 15pc are wasted, half of them are anemic and almost one-third of these children have iron deficiency anemia.
Pakistan has an alarmingly high level of malnutrition; 24 percent of the population is undernourished. The most recent estimates by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) state that 37.5 million people in Pakistan are not receiving proper nourishment. The issue is complex and widespread, with deficiencies ranging from protein to iodine, along with other health problems due to insufficient intake of these essential nutrients.
Periodic or seasonal food insecurity is reported by almost 40-50pc of families in certain provinces, especially in Balochistan, Sindh, South Punjab and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata. These are also compounded by poor and unhygienic living conditions, little access to safe water and adequate sanitation that exposes children to high rates of intestinal infections and diarrhoea. Recent data from a Unicef progress report (2013-2015) on improving access to sanitation in Pakistan suggests that about 58m people (36pc) either defecate in the open or have access to shared toilets. In rural areas, 45pc of the population still practice open defecation.
Malnutrition in Pakistan is usually associated with poverty and the main causative factors include low consumption of food and foods with low nutritional value.