Providing Food to Families of Hospital Patients

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, food security had posed a huge threat to the national security of Pakistan due to socio-economic conditions, natural disasters, terrorism and sectarian violence, among others factors. 

But the threat has become even more pronounced since the pandemic. It now has the potential to further aggravate poverty in the country.

The primary challenge facing the government at the moment is to curb the spread of COVID-19 and minimize its socio-economic impacts.

Full and smart-lockdowns have led to a reduction in incomes and a disruption in food supply and production. Consequently, households across the country are being forced to cut down on the quality and quantity of their food consumption.

The restrictions on movement of goods and people and lockdown are likely to cause adverse impacts on livelihood and food and nutrition security of people if not accompanied by well thought policy measures.

It adds that around 40 to 62 million people (20-30% of Pakistan’s population) are experiencing some form of food insecurity.

However, these are conservative figures. Keeping in mind the scale of the COVID-19 emergency, it is reasonable to conclude there will be a substantial increase in the number of food insecure people in Pakistan in the coming months or years.

In this case, the vulnerable and marginalised groups such as women, children, daily-wage laborers, small- and medium-scale businesses, agriculture and other informal sectors will be disproportionately impacted, not only economically but also in terms of human cost i.e., mental trauma.

During the Pandemic (COVID19), Fatima Memorial Hospital played a vital role in treating as many patient as it possibly could. Since the hospital provides various medical facilities and that too to the needy and deserving patients, it requires support from the donors in providing healthcare facilities and food to the patients.

Now that the third wave has hit the country, more and more patients are expected to be admitted in the hospital. The number of patients is increasing as the spread of the virus cannot be stopped. In these times, the nation is looking towards us to support them.

As a result of which, we rely on the donations by our esteemed donors to cater to the nutrition needs of the patients/patient attendants.

Your valuable donation is of utmost importance to Fatima Memorial Hospital, so please continue to donate maximum so that we can provide food to maximum patients at Fatima Memorial Hospital.

Thank you!

In Pakistan, the Prevalence of Undernourishment — an important indicator for measuring our progress on SDG 2 Zero Hunger — has slowly declined to 26m Pakistanis in 2017-19, from about 33m in 2003-04. Some of the gains were however reversed by climate-related shocks, such as the floods of 2010-13, as well as recent challenges of drought, more floods, locusts and Covid-19 impacts. With all this to bear, we can expect a deterioration in Pakistan’s food security as we head towards the end of 2020 under a business-as-usual scenario.

Despite past achievements, five years into the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the world is not on track to achieve zero hunger. The number of people affected by hunger globally has been on the rise since 2014. FAO currently estimates that nearly 690 million people are hungry, the majority of them being in Asia. This is an addition of 10m people in one year and nearly 60m in five years. Looking beyond starvation, over two billion people do not have regular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food. The Covid-19 pandemic could further add 83m to 132m food-insecure people worldwide. Globally, the prevalence of food insecurity at a moderate or severe level is higher among women than men. The gender gap in accessing food increased from 2018 to 2019.

Economic slowdowns due to lockdowns, such as Pakistan experienced in 2019-20, tend to increase poverty, which is closely interlinked with food insecurity. The shocks are consequently affecting poorer commu­nities disproportionately, and pushing those in the most uncertain contexts deeper into poverty and hunger, with an important impact on the stability of access to adequate, safe and nutritious food for households. Access to food is also under threat for more vulnerable households because of food price fluctuations observed in a range of Pakistani markets since the onset of Covid-19.

Food insecurity can lead to different manifestations of malnutrition. The kind of and relative amounts of food people eat, specifically, the quality of their diet, translates into how our body utilizes it and is directly linked with health and energy. In Pakistan, access to healthy, balanced diets is a challenge. Shifting to healthy diets can contribute to reducing health and climate-change costs because the hidden costs of these healthy diets are lower. The adoption of healthy diets can lead to a reduction of up to 97 per cent in direct and indirect health costs and 41–74pc in the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Dietary habits in Pakistan require realignment to more balanced, nutritious ingredients, by making a diverse range of foods accessible to the poor and by educating everyone on the negative health consequences of a diet dominated by energy-dense, low-nutrient foods.

During the Pandemic (COVID19), Fatima Memorial Hospital played a vital role in treating as many patient as it possibly could. Since the hospital provides various medical facilities and that too to the needy and deserving patients, it requires support from the donors in providing healthcare facilities and food to the patients.

Now that the second wave has hit the country, more and more patients are expected to be admitted in the hospital. The number of patients is increasing as the spread of the virus cannot be stopped. In these times, the nation is looking towards us to support them.

As a result of which, we rely on the donations by our esteemed donors to cater to the nutrition needs of the patients/patient attendants.

Your valuable donation is of utmost importance to Fatima Memorial Hospital, so please continue to donate maximum so that we can provide food to maximum patients at Fatima Memorial Hospital.

Thank you!