Do we give back?

by Amna Akhtar

What can we give back? Respondents at  the field site in Dadu
Photo credit: Collective team

‘Tell me what’s wrong with my baby. There are no health services in these areas. Help us.’ Conversations and pleas such as these are not uncommon for researchers to hear. Every time we step into the field in rural, low income areas of the country, we are met with countless appeals from our respondents to do something. To act. To intervene. But as researchers, that is the one thing we are trained not to do. As observers of an issue or community our task is to objectively gather information, interact with locals and gather insights. We cannot ‘help’ people or provide goods or services. The only thing we may give at times is compensation for the time people spent with us and consequently lost out in their wages and earnings.

Hunger and undernutrition – knowing versus feeling

by Haris Gazdar

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.