At least 400,000 children below five years of age and 20,000 mothers die annually in Pakistan due to malnutrition, socio-economic problems and lack of access to proper health care.
This was revealed by health secretary of Punjab state, Fawad Hassan Fawad, at a programme held to kick-start the mother and child health week, which would be observed till September 28, Online news agency reported.
Millions of people have been affected by various diseases due to the recent floods in the country and the majority of them are children and mothers.
The mother and child week, held in collaboration with Unicef, would try to provide better health facilities to around six lakh children and three lakh mothers in flood hit areas, he said, adding that they would be provided with special food packets for overcoming their nutritional deficiencies.