ISLAMABAD: Calling for the preparation and implementation of a ‘national nutrition policy’ based on a health perspective rather than food security, public health experts stressed that the dream of a healthy society cannot be realised without providing healthy nutrition and clean drinking water to the people.
They claimed that more than 70 percent of health problems are related to nutrition and safe drinking water. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people, especially women and children, do not receive the necessary nutrition or clean drinking water, leading to serious health problems in Pakistan.
“Studies have shown that around 72 health problems faced by people are related to nutrition, including clean drinking water. The high burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension in Pakistan is mostly linked to our poor dietary habits,” Prof. Shahzad Ali Khan, Vice President, Health Services Academy (HSA), said at a seminar on healthy nutrition policy in Islamabad.
Addressing the participants of the seminar titled “From Concept to Action: Pathways to Nutritious Food through Healthy Nutrition Policy” organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Prof. Khan advocated that Pakistan’s National Healthy Nutrition Policy (PNHDP) should be prepared but said it should be prepared from a health perspective rather than food security.
“Unfortunately, when we address issues related to nutrition and diet, we look at them from a food security perspective and always focus on the undernourished sections of society instead of addressing malnutrition, which is a more serious problem in Pakistan,” he said, adding that due to malnutrition, the majority of Pakistanis do not have the immunity and strength to fight diseases.
Citing the example of Covid-19, Prof. Khan claimed that only those who were malnourished, had poor nutrition or had comorbidities due to malnutrition fell seriously ill during the pandemic. On the other hand, he added that those who were physically fit, followed nutritious diets and were physically active survived the pandemic despite being infected multiple times.
He said most diseases in China are treated with the help of traditional Chinese medicines, which are mostly dietary supplements. He added that even in Western countries, instead of prescribing medicines, they focus on healthy eating to prevent and treat diseases.
“Therefore, in countries like Pakistan, where the prevalence of communicable and non-communicable diseases is very high, we need to adopt the concept of DPASS. D stands for Diet, PA for Physical Activity and SS for Sleep and Stress Management,” he advised and urged policy makers to prepare national healthy nutrition policy from the perspective of health rather than food security.
Faiz Easool of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) lamented that more than 82 percent of Pakistan’s population, or about 200 million people, do not have access to a healthy and nutritious diet, and politicians are least concerned about this aspect of health and well-being.
He said that despite the fact that youth and women are the majority in Pakistan and are the most affected sections of the society, they are never made a part of policy discussions. He called for attention to food, dietary patterns and nutrition in national and provincial health and social policies.
Dr Mehreen Mujtaba, Director of Nutrition, Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHS, R&C), said statistics show that 67 per cent of the population cannot afford a nutritious diet, while about 5 per cent cannot meet the minimum required energy intake.
Öztürk stated that as the Ministry of Health, they are trying to produce policies at both national and provincial levels to improve the nutritional status of women and children in particular, and called on the private sector, civil society and other segments of society to cooperate in this regard.
Khansa Naeem of SDPI, provided data and statistics on malnutrition and its impact on society, saying that malnutrition is also prevalent in children, with 8 out of 10 children suffering from malnutrition, stunting, wasting and micronutrient deficiencies due to their inability to consume adequate quality food.
Nearly 10 million children are stunted, while many parts of the country are at an emergency level of wasting. As a result, one in 15 children in Pakistan dies before the age of five, twice the rate in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
He said almost half of children under five have a height below what is healthy for their age, adding that when it comes to women, millions are anaemic. “The situation is worse for pregnant women (15 to 49 years of reproductive age), who experience high rates of anaemia (42.6%) and iron deficiency (46.9%) due to lack of maternal nutrition,” he said.