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| Getting by on hungry days Photo credit: Wikipedia/U.S National Archives & Records Administration |
There is hunger in Pakistan and there is undernutrition. The two are closely connected but not the
same. We all know what hunger feels like. It is a bodily sensation associated with discomfort and pain. Social policy knows hunger in terms of energy
intake. The Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO) of the United Nations defines hunger as the daily consumption of fewer than 1,800 kcal by an individual. The Pakistan government’s own benchmark,
until recently, was 2,100 kcal per day. Undernutrition
is the outcome of sustained periods of inadequate food intake on the health of
a person. Social policy knows
undernutrition through comparing an individual’s physical attributes such as
weight, height or blood micronutrient counts with those of a healthy population.
