Success Story

Distressed parents of a toddler, Hadia, visited BHU Pir Bux Bhutto OTP facility in district Larkana for their undernourished 12-month old daughter. Hadia had been breastfed for initial three months of her life. Although she was introduced to complementary feeding later, she had developed Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and as a result, her cognitive, physical, emotional, and social development severely declined. In addition to that, her anthropometric measurements also painted a very bleak picture. Her weight on admission was 2.5kgs and Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) was 7.1.

Insufficient food intake, parental ignorance and poor hygiene practices exacerbated malnourishment issue in Hadia. When she was brought at the OTP facility at PPHI Sindh BHU Pir Bux Bhutto, she was immediately admitted to the facility under the European Union in Pakistan-funded Programme for Improved Nutrition in Sindh (EU-PINS).

According to a National Survey "Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey" (MICS), conducted in 2014, "more than four out of ten children under the age of five in Sindh are underweight (42%) and 17% are classified as severely underweight. Almost half of children under five years (48%) are stunted or short for their age and one quarter (24 percent) children are severely stunted. The results also show that 15% of children are wasted or thin for their height."

The EU-PINS aims to reduce the burden of malnutrition through multisectoral approach in 10 districts of Sindh Province. The districts are Dadu, Shikarpur, Larkana, Qamber, Matiari, Tando Allah Yar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Thatta, Sujawal and Jamshoro. So far under EU-PINS, PPHI Sindh has screened 345,630 under-5 children for malnutrition out of which 58,860 were admitted to PPHI Sindh's various OTP sites and 43,612 were completely cured.

After her admission, Hadia started to respond to the treatment immediately and within a couple of months and after 10 visits, she showed visible improvements in her anthropometric measurements and all areas of development. Her weight on her last visit was 7.1Kgs and her MUAC was 11.7. Today, her parents are overjoyed to see their daughter gleefully achieving the developmental goals for her age.