HOPES AGAINST HUNGER

FOR the first time, the four UN bodies - the FAO, Unicef, WFP and WHO - responsible for helping countries meet their food security goals got together to publish a report on hunger and malnutrition in the Asia-Pacific region.

The findings are harrowing : some 486 million people in the region are undernourished.

The figures relation to Pakistan are alarming - only 4 percent of the country's children are getting a   ''minimally accepted diet''.

While hunger is on the rise throughout the world, the war against hunger and malnutrition in Asia and the Pacific is particularly difficult to win, given the high population density in the region.

The report also mentions the high rates of  stunting in the region, as it reasserted the significance of adequate maternal nutrition and the timely introduction of a healthy assortment of food and protein in the diet.

In his victory speech, and then again in his first formal address to the nation, Prime Minister Imran Khan brought up Pakistan's human development challenges as he talked of stunted growth, mentioning that 44 percent of all the children in the country are stunted, quoting figures from the  National Nutrition Survey [2011]. 

Stunted growth occurs when children are poor nourished, fall ill frequently, and have insufficient  psychosocial stimulation in the first few years of their upbringing.

According to another report by the Ministry of Planning Development and Reform, Pakistan losses $7.6 billion each year due to malnutrition - that's 3 percent of the country's total GDP.

While it is said that Pakistan along with other South Asian countries has witnessed some progress in reducing the number of undernourished, it has not been at the speed and scale desired.

The World Students Society thanks the Editorial staff of Dawn.