Malnutrition on rise among poor people

Reza Mahmud :
Ranges of malnutrition are widening among the middle income group of people as the price of proteins and foods are hiking to beyond their purchasing capacity.
Public health experts said that the malnutrition existed among the lower income group of people in Bangladesh.
Nowadays, it is expanded among the middle income groups due to the recent increase of livelihood costs.
They said the sources of nutrition are protein enriched foods like meat, fish, milk and egg.
The lower and middle-income groups of people are cutting down their expenses avoiding costly food, like fish, meat and milk in an effort to survive in these hardships.
When contacted, Professor Dr. M Muzaherul Huq, former Adviser of the World Health Organisation (WHO), told The New Nation, “Previously, malnutrition was remained among the lower income group, but now, it is expanding sharply among the middle income groups as they failed to meet ends their families as expenses of livelihood is hiked unbearably.”
The Professor said, as the people are avoiding to take the protein enriched foods like fish, meat, the risks of huge malnutrition are increasing.
He said it is now poised a grave threat of maintaining a healthy nation.
The common consumers are also expressing their anxious on this regards.
 “My husband’s income is about 25,000 taka. The house rent takes nearly half of this. The commuting costs also increased. In this circumstances we failed to give sufficient nutrition enriched foods to our children,” said Tahmina Akhtar, a homemaker in Jurain area in the city.
Tahmina said it while trying to buy a kg of fish from Jurain kitchen market recently.
The homemaker said that she could manage to buy only two kgs of Pangas or Tilapia fishes in a month only which is found below Tk 200 per kg.
The other customers in the market also expressed similar bitter experiences in this regards.
Market insiders said, for days ago, two pairs of eggs were sold at Tk 38 in kitchen markets across Dhaka.
Nowadays, those were selling for Tk 45. Similarly, people purchased a dozen eggs at Tk 120 days before. Now, they have to pay for the same is Tk 130.In this hard time, eggs, the low-cost source of protein which almost every family tries to include in their daily meals, are eating away a bigger portion of their family budgets.
Besides, the price of broiler chicken increased by Tk 10 a kilogram and the item sold for Tk 170-180 a kilogram become more expensive for the people.
The price of beef has reached Tk 700 to 800 per kg in Dhaka city, which witnessed a hike in price as it was Tk 560-600 in the beginning of the year.
The price of liquid milk has also increased by Tk 10 per litre while half-litre packs are now selling at Tk 5 more. The producers have raised the retail price of their products by 12.5 per cent in recent hike.
As per the retailers in the capital, liquid milk products have increased to Tk 90 per litre from Tk 80 previously.
Meanwhile, Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection (DNCRP) tries to keep prices of egg and other commodity prices reasonable by conducting raids in markets across the country.
But, the effects have found only for very short times, consumers alleged.