A Pakistani child suffering from malnutrition London – Naeem Arzu Pakistan is suffering from an acute malnutrition problem, particularly in the southern province of Sindh. The region’s Planning and Development Department recently reported that eight of its 23 districts have \"extremely poor access to food.\"
According to figures from the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, a policy analysis organization in Islamabad, nearly 48 percent of Pakistan’s population lacks access to food and is either anemic or malnourished.
Pakistan was 75th of the 107 most deprived countries ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit\'s Global Food Security Index for 2013.
Food inflation which began seen at the beginning of 2008 is amongst the biggest problems; the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics found that inflation had risen to a record 34.09 percent.
The government of Sindh reported that more than 71 percent of the provinces households face food security issues –even though Sindh’s economy is mainly agricultural.  Around 14 million hectares are under cultivation, with farming being the main source of livelihood.  Much of the produce is exported to neighbouring countries such as Iran and Afghanistan.
Abid Suleri, Sustainable Development Policy Institute executive director said, “\"The reason for the extensive food insecurity in Sindh is the same as in the rest of the country and is a complex mix of poverty, poor governance and inequitable distribution.\"
Ghaffar Khan, a driver serving in a household in Karachi, earns about $150 a month, quite low by Pakistani standards, and has a family of five including three children.
\"After paying house rent, utility bills and school fees, I have a negligible amount to spend on food.  The result is that the nutritional needs of my family are compromised, and we eat one meal a day to make ends meet,\" he said.
Unpredictable weather patterns have had a massive impact on harvests, in particular recent heavy rains and floods which have caused havoc.
Women, children, and the elderly are hit hardest by food shortages. Gender plays a role in nutrition, particularly in poorer rural communities, women are the last to eat, and poor nutrition in this patriarchal society is worst among young girls and women.
Teenage housemaid Kulsoom, in Karachi said, “\"Our mother prefers her sons when it comes to the food distribution in the family, as girls and women are supposed to eat the leftovers,\"
Sindh has seen a growing number of refugees fleeing from insurgency-linked violence in the northwest of Pakistan, as well as from natural disasters such as the floods of 2010 and 2011.  The large-scale exodus of people has hugely strained food resources.  Additional Secretary Abdul Basit Khan of the Ministry of Food Security and Research said, \"The irony is that Pakistan, or for that matter Sindh, has no clear-cut national food nutritional policy\".