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Showing poor performance on Mothers’ Index 2012, Pakistan stands at the 78th position out of 80 less developed countries in indicators relating to the status of women’s health, nutrition, education, economic well being and political participation.
The annual Mothers Index makes part of the ‘Nutrition in the First 1,000 Days: State of the World’s Mothers 2012’ launched by Save the Children on Thursday. Member Planning Commission of Pakistan Dr. Saba Gul Khattak, graced the occasion as chief guest. Other members of the panel included Lady Health Worker, Mussarat Qazi, a beneficiary of a Save the Children health programme in Haripur, Sobia, and country director, Save the Children in Pakistan, David Wright.
Outlining the key findings of the report, Arshad Mahmood, Senior Manager, Advocacy, Save the Children, stated that SOWM report ranks Niger as the worst place to be a mother, while Norway, Iceland and Sweden stand among the top countries (out of a total of 165 countries).
In the list of less developed countries, Cuba tops where as Nigeria is at the last position. India stands 76th. Pakistan ranks 80 on Women Index and 76th on Children’s Index. In the category of more developed countries, Norway stands best whereas Albania is the last with 43rd position. Among 42 least developed countries, Rawanda is at the top with Niger at the last position. The report says that only 39 per cent births are attended by a skilled birth attended health personnel in Pakistan whereas the expected number of years of formal female schooling is 6 years in the country. It says that 82 per cent of Norwegian women use modern contraception compared to 5 per cent of women in Niger. Only 19 per cent women are using modern contraception in Pakistan. Around 33 women die of childbirth related issues every day in Pakistan.
The 13th State of the World’s Mothers (SOWM) report shows that malnutrition kills 2.6 million children and 100,000 mothers worldwide every year. In Asia, while Bangladesh and Nepal are rated in the report as ‘good’ for their practices on infant and toddler feeding, Afghanistan and India are rated as ‘fair’; Pakistan and Vietnam as ‘poor’.
Arshad said that Pakistan still does poorly on breastfeeding indicators, but trends are moving in the right direction. Exclusive breastfeeding rates increased from 23 percent in 1990/91 to 37 percent in 2006/07. During that same period, rates of early initiation rose three-fold, from 9 to 29 per cent. Over roughly the same period (1990-2008), maternal mortality dropped by nearly half stated the SOWM report 2012.
The report details a vicious cycle of how mothers, who may themselves have been stunted in childhood, go on to give birth to underweight babies who have not been adequately nourished in the womb. Directly or indirectly the concurrent vicious life cycle of malnutrition contributes to almost 35 per cent of all under-5 deaths in Pakistan consequently affecting the future health and socio-economic development and productive potential of the society.
The report recommends that nearly 1.3 million children’s lives could be saved each year if six interventions are fully implemented at scale in the 12 countries, including 100,000 in Pakistan, most heavily burdened by child malnutrition and under-5 mortality.
Three of the six solutions — iron, vitamin A and zinc — are typically packaged as capsules costing pennies per dose, or about $1 to $2 per person, per year. The other three solutions including breastfeeding, complementary feeding and good hygiene are behaviour-change solutions, can be implemented through outreach, education and community support. The report says that with the help of frontline health workers, all six of these interventions can be delivered fairly using health systems that are already in place.
It further suggests that all governments should make fighting malnutrition a priority, setting targets for their own countries and around the world and developing country governments should scale up nutrition programmes around the first 1000 days, from a mother’s pregnancy to the child’s second birthday.
It further recommends that donor countries should continue to keep their commitments to deliver their international assistance budgets, so that governments can continue to invest in global health and development, including nutrition. Dr. Saba Gul Khattak, in her remarks, stressed on the importance of education, especially for the girl child. She also suggested more importance be given to fundamental accountability. According to Dr. Khattak, “It is time we changed our systems and instead of focusing on results-based monitoring, we should focus on accountability.”
Save the Children International Country Director David Wright stated, “The 2012 State of the World’s Mothers shows clearly that this crisis of chronic malnutrition has devastating effects on both mothers and their children. We urgently need global leadership on malnutrition that results in key nutrition programs being rolled out for mothers and babies to ensure their health and survival.”
He said that the report shows that a mother’s breast milk — one single nutrition intervention — can save a million children’s lives each year. “Policies and programmes must be put in place in all countries to ensure all mothers have the support they need to choose to breastfeed if they want to. Acting now not only saves lives, but saves dollars as well.”
The annual Mothers Index makes part of the ‘Nutrition in the First 1,000 Days: State of the World’s Mothers 2012’ launched by Save the Children on Thursday. Member Planning Commission of Pakistan Dr. Saba Gul Khattak, graced the occasion as chief guest. Other members of the panel included Lady Health Worker, Mussarat Qazi, a beneficiary of a Save the Children health programme in Haripur, Sobia, and country director, Save the Children in Pakistan, David Wright.
Outlining the key findings of the report, Arshad Mahmood, Senior Manager, Advocacy, Save the Children, stated that SOWM report ranks Niger as the worst place to be a mother, while Norway, Iceland and Sweden stand among the top countries (out of a total of 165 countries).
In the list of less developed countries, Cuba tops where as Nigeria is at the last position. India stands 76th. Pakistan ranks 80 on Women Index and 76th on Children’s Index. In the category of more developed countries, Norway stands best whereas Albania is the last with 43rd position. Among 42 least developed countries, Rawanda is at the top with Niger at the last position. The report says that only 39 per cent births are attended by a skilled birth attended health personnel in Pakistan whereas the expected number of years of formal female schooling is 6 years in the country. It says that 82 per cent of Norwegian women use modern contraception compared to 5 per cent of women in Niger. Only 19 per cent women are using modern contraception in Pakistan. Around 33 women die of childbirth related issues every day in Pakistan.
The 13th State of the World’s Mothers (SOWM) report shows that malnutrition kills 2.6 million children and 100,000 mothers worldwide every year. In Asia, while Bangladesh and Nepal are rated in the report as ‘good’ for their practices on infant and toddler feeding, Afghanistan and India are rated as ‘fair’; Pakistan and Vietnam as ‘poor’.
Arshad said that Pakistan still does poorly on breastfeeding indicators, but trends are moving in the right direction. Exclusive breastfeeding rates increased from 23 percent in 1990/91 to 37 percent in 2006/07. During that same period, rates of early initiation rose three-fold, from 9 to 29 per cent. Over roughly the same period (1990-2008), maternal mortality dropped by nearly half stated the SOWM report 2012.
The report details a vicious cycle of how mothers, who may themselves have been stunted in childhood, go on to give birth to underweight babies who have not been adequately nourished in the womb. Directly or indirectly the concurrent vicious life cycle of malnutrition contributes to almost 35 per cent of all under-5 deaths in Pakistan consequently affecting the future health and socio-economic development and productive potential of the society.
The report recommends that nearly 1.3 million children’s lives could be saved each year if six interventions are fully implemented at scale in the 12 countries, including 100,000 in Pakistan, most heavily burdened by child malnutrition and under-5 mortality.
Three of the six solutions — iron, vitamin A and zinc — are typically packaged as capsules costing pennies per dose, or about $1 to $2 per person, per year. The other three solutions including breastfeeding, complementary feeding and good hygiene are behaviour-change solutions, can be implemented through outreach, education and community support. The report says that with the help of frontline health workers, all six of these interventions can be delivered fairly using health systems that are already in place.
It further suggests that all governments should make fighting malnutrition a priority, setting targets for their own countries and around the world and developing country governments should scale up nutrition programmes around the first 1000 days, from a mother’s pregnancy to the child’s second birthday.
It further recommends that donor countries should continue to keep their commitments to deliver their international assistance budgets, so that governments can continue to invest in global health and development, including nutrition. Dr. Saba Gul Khattak, in her remarks, stressed on the importance of education, especially for the girl child. She also suggested more importance be given to fundamental accountability. According to Dr. Khattak, “It is time we changed our systems and instead of focusing on results-based monitoring, we should focus on accountability.”
Save the Children International Country Director David Wright stated, “The 2012 State of the World’s Mothers shows clearly that this crisis of chronic malnutrition has devastating effects on both mothers and their children. We urgently need global leadership on malnutrition that results in key nutrition programs being rolled out for mothers and babies to ensure their health and survival.”
He said that the report shows that a mother’s breast milk — one single nutrition intervention — can save a million children’s lives each year. “Policies and programmes must be put in place in all countries to ensure all mothers have the support they need to choose to breastfeed if they want to. Acting now not only saves lives, but saves dollars as well.”
