Sindh govt to dispense grocery bags in Thar to fight malnutrition

KARACHI: Sindh government has decided to dispense grocery bags among the people of drought-hit region of Thar to address chronic malnutrition, which is claiming lives of infants in the area.

According to the food support program of the provincial government as many as 50,000 families will be provided grocery bags in the desert region from next week.

“Deserving families were identified with the help of NADRA and the pilot food support program to last for three months.”, said information adviser of Sindh, Barrister Murtaza Wahab.

The program to cost Rs.22 millions monthly,” Wahab said, adding that “the PPP government is taking substantial steps to minimize the deaths of infants in Thar”.

Provincial Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho said on October 23, that low birth weight is one of the major causes of the deaths of children in Thar as around half of the children die within one month of their birth.

“Around 50 per cent children die in Thar within one month of their birth and the leading causes of children’s deaths are low birth weight, septicemia and birth asphyxia or deprivation of oxygen at the time of birth,” the minister said while addressing a presser.

The provincial health ministry was dealing with those conditions by setting up more health facilities closer to homes of the people in Thar, the minister assured.

It may be recalled thirty children have lost their lives during current month of October, while the death toll has jumped to 532 during this year so far.

The federal government has also decided to issue 35,000 health cards for people of Thar, in order to provide them better health facilities.