ISLAMABAD: Over 41 per cent of women in Pakistan suffer from anaemia, with 14.4pc being underweight and 24pc overweight, according to a new report.
The state of maternal nutrition is so bleak that 186 women die per 100,000 live births; suboptimal breastfeeding leads to 2,000 deaths in mothers due to breast and ovarian cancer and 1,100 deaths due to type-II diabetes annually.
Moreover, there are 1.4 million cases of low birth weight in Pakistan each year.
This has been revealed in the ‘Cost of Inaction Tool’ developed by Nutrition International. The report was presented at the ‘National Policy Dialogue on Economic Case for Maternal Nutrition’, organised by the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) in Bhurban.
