Malnutrition remains serious concern in Sindh: minister.

KARACHI -- Malnutrition remains a great concern in the province where this year an estimated seven million have been screened for malnutrition, shared Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho during a press conference held here on Thursday.

The briefing was organised to highlight achievements, challenges and way forward in the health sector.

Health Secretary Zulfiqar Shah and Parliamentary Secretary Health Qasim Siraj Soomro were in attendance.

According to the data shared in the press conference, the total number of children treated for 'severe acute malnutrition' last year was 755,038 while 1.9 million children were treated for 'moderate acute malnutrition' (also known as wasting). The number of malnourished children treated with complications was 31,117.

'Malnutrition is best treated preventatively. Therefore, at total of 1.8m pregnant and lactating women were counselled and referred for antenatal care,' she said.

Around 1.9 million children treated for wasting last year

The minister added that though there had not been any cases of polio in Sindh for the past year, environmental samples of the virus had been identified.

'There is success in the EPI programme. Details of more than 8 million children and 2.5 million pregnant women have been digitised. In addition, there was a successful completion of the National Immunisation Support Programme that increased the percentage of immunised children from 29 per cent to 68 per cent,' she said.

The target for 2023 was that this percentage was increased to 85 per cent and to 95 per cent by 2024, she added.

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