District of Tharparkar is a desert region located in the south eastern part of Pakistan. The district is chronically food insecure and heavily reliant on assistance. Despite numerous governmental and non-governmental interventions in recent years, the prevalence of under nutrition (both wasting and stunting) remains high.

The Link NCA quantitative survey revealed the prevalence of global acute malnutrition (GAM) at 27.8 % and the prevalence of global chronic malnutrition (GCM) at 47.3%. Both rates are higher than the 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) thresholds.

The analyses undertaken during this Link NCA study allowed us to identify 17 risk factors, believed to have an impact on the incidence of undernutrition in the zone of study. Following a triangulation of data from diverse sources, seven (7) risk factors were identified as having a major impact, namely:

Poor access to water,

Poor hygiene and sanitation practices,

Poor health services,

Poor complementary feeding practices of children aged 6-23 months,

Low availability of food

Poor diversity of household income sources and

Poor coping strategies.