HERE are few issues in Pakistan both as urgent and important as that of malnutrition. Despite becoming a food surplus country, the World Health Programme reports that 60pc of our population still faces food insecurity, and multiple national and international surveys have shown deteriorating nutrition indicators: 44pc of children are stunted, 15pc are wasted and more than half of all women of reproductive age are anaemic.

These factors result in increased maternal and infant mortality rates, impaired physical and cognitive development, and overall poorer socioeconomic outcomes. With parts of Sindh being some of the worst-affected areas, it comes as some relief that, in the wake of the provincial task force on nutrition being informed that the issue has reached critical proportions, the chief minister announced the launch of an EU-assisted nutrition programme. This is not the first time that Sindh has received multi-million dollar funding to combat malnutrition, however, and tempting as it is to treat it as a provinceand health-specific problem, malnutrition is in fact exacerbated by multiple complications poverty, lack of education, food insecurity, climate change and political instability. This must also be addressed through strategic cooperation between the provinces and federal government, which is not contingent solely on donor aid.

It is not enough to provide dietary supplements and vaccinations, promote breastfeeding and ensure that children with diarrhoeal diseases are properly treated. Equally important is addressing the lack of sanitation facilities, eliminating open defecation and implementing WASH programmes. Similarly, the agriculture sector must harmonise the need for increasing production with ensuring that the agri-food chain is sustainable, climate-smart and free of harmful contaminants; improving the nutritional quality of crops through fortification; diversifying crops; and increasing production of plant-based proteins. As malnutrition is intrinsically linked with poverty and disease each contributing to the other`s pervasiveness ultimately, the basic needs of the population for affordable food, housing and healthcare must be met. Breaking this cycle requires consistent political and socioeconomic intervention.

If the tendency to view the issue in clinical terms somehow dilutes its urgency, consider the layperson`s definition of `stunting`: failing to grow and the words of Nobel laureate Gabriela Mistral: `The child cannot [wait]. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed.

To him we cannot answer `tomorrow`. His name is `today`