Millions of babies are starving in Pakistan despite an abundance of food in the country

A frantic mother in Pakistan rushes towards the special paediatric ward in a southern rural town hospital, cradling her seven-month-old baby. The infant’s eyes are blank and at 2.5kg, he is much smaller than most newborns – the average for a healthy child of that age is almost three times that. He is starving in a country that has no shortage of food, but which has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. His case is not unique for the doctors at the Mithi Civil Hospital in hunger-stricken Sindh province, where millions survive on less than US$1 a day. Of the 150 to 250 patients who come in to the hospital each day, roughly one-fifth are suffering from malnutrition, said Dr Dilip Kumar, head of the paediatric department. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a poverty and hunger watchdog, around one in five of Pakistan’s more than 200 million people are malnourished. And yet, the nation has an abundance of food – in fact, according to the US Department of Agriculture, Pakistan is projected to export 500,000 tons of wheat from May 2018 until April 2019, and 7.4 million tons of rice in the same period. Dawn, the English-language daily newspaper, even reported a potato glut earlier this month. In Pakistan, women take desperate measures to stop having babies The issues are socio-economic, experts said – just because goods are available does not mean people can access them. “There are four key pillars of food security in Pakistan: the first is availability, then accessibility, utilisation and stability,” said Ambreen Fatima, senior research economist at the Applied Economic Research Centre of Karachi University. In Tharparkar district, where Mithi Civil Hospital is located, all four are lacking, she said. “Pakistan is quite well-off in wheat production,” said veteran economist Kaiser Bengali, but added that much of it is sold for export. “Affordability is the biggest challenge here in Pakistan,” he said. While Karachi is Pakistan’s financial capital, there are some alarming examples of poverty and deprivation there, said Bengali. “In our surveys, we came across the kids who had never eaten an apple, and when we offered him an apple he was reluctant to take the bite wondering whether it was an edible thing or not,” Bengali said. “In another case a family had never had eggs in their whole lives.” In China, human hair is a growing business (and Pakistan is taking a cut) A survey of the state-run Planning Division in 2017 found that 40 per cent of Pakistan’s population lives in multi-dimensional poverty. That means they are not just short of money, but are also facing a shortage of basic needs, including health, clean water, and electricity, among other factors – all of which can impact their access to food. “Poor physical infrastructure, particularly in the remote rural areas throughout Pakistan is also a limitation on access to food and influences market prices,” according to a recent statement from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). “This is also linked to inadequate water and sanitation, education and health service delivery, which together with the lack of awareness of appropriate dietary intake contributes to greater food insecurity and malnutrition,” it said. Tharparkar district is frequently highlighted in Pakistan’s media because of its high rate of child deaths, with politicians blaming the situation on drought – but economists and physicians said that was not the sole explanation. “Causes of malnutrition are multiple pregnancies, young-aged marriage, iron deficiency in mothers, (lack) of breastfeeding, weak immunisation, and early weaning,” Kumar said. Pakistan man accused of stabbing woman 23 times gets acquittal overturned Bearing large numbers of children from a young age takes its toll on women’s health, but also impacts the well-being of the fetus and ability to breastfeed a newborn. In Pakistan, only 38 per cent of babies are fed breast milk exclusively during their first six months in line with UN recommendations. This low figure is blamed on local traditions, the heavy workloads of mothers and powerful marketing by the milk industry. Pakistan’s crackdown on aid agencies may affect 11 million recipients Many mothers are told to feed their newborns tea, herbs, which can stunt growth. Some are unnecessarily persuaded to use formula instead of breast milk by doctors. This can introduce health problems if the water use to make it is unclean, or if poor families scrimp on the amount of powder to create the drink. Sindh’s high number of child deaths are the result of a vicious poverty cycle that begins with malnourished mothers, said Bengali. “An infant is not fed with wheat or solid food.”