KARACHI: More than 177,000 children die every year in Pakistan before their fifth birthday because they or their mother are malnourished, a report revealed. In Sindh province the ratio of malnutrition, especially amongst women and children is very alarming.

More than 90 million cases of diarrhea and respiratory infection among children are attributed to poor breastfeeding practices and zinc deficiencies each year, costing health care systems and families more than US$1 billion annually, report says.

According to a report of Pakistan Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) the consequences of Malnutrition, including lost laborers, healthcare expenses and lower productivity, cost Pakistan US$ 7.6 billion or 3 percent of GDP every year.

The report further revealed that more than two-thirds of Pakistan’s children suffering from stunting, anemia or iodine deficiencies will suffer deficits in mental and physical development, leading to lower school performance and lower productivity as adults, depressing GDP by US$3.7 billion annually.

“More than 10 million working adults with anemia experience chronic weakness and fatigue, reducing economic output in industry, agriculture and other manual jobs by more than UD$657 million annually,” report elaborates in its findings.

According to SUN report, in Sindh province the ratio of malnutrition, especially amongst women and children is very alarming. In Sindh, malnutrition is one of the causes of death of newborns in backward areas like the Thar Desert.

Sindh province has also been facing the problems of poverty, joblessness and malnutrition and introducing drip irrigation could be the key in mitigating these huge human issues, especially acute malnutrition of children.

Report suggested that Sindh province has a vast uncultivated area, which could be made green with the help of drip irrigation methods and it would turn this semi-arid province into the grain basket of Pakistan.

“In Sindh province the valley of the Indus River is green and fertile, but still there are vast tracts of land in the province that are arid. These areas could be made greener with the introduction of drip irrigation culture, which consume very less quantities of water to produce bumper crops in dry, sandy arid areas,” report recommended.

Sindh could also establish arid agriculture universities in Nara, Kohistan and Thar on the pattern of the Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi to boost up arid irrigation and agriculture research, report suggested.