The Department of Health Services (DOHS) made the Nepal Nutrition Report Card public in the presence of Health Minister Umakanta Chaudhary on Thursday evening to reveal the disturbing facts. The report also said 74 percent of children under two-years in Nepal suffer from anemia thereby leading to irreversible intellectual loss among children. [break]
Regional Nutritional Advisor of UNICEF France Begin said that almost 80 percent of brain development takes place within two years of birth and hence lack of nutrition during pregnancy and in the first couple of years seriously hamper intellectual development of a child.
The UNICEF Global Report that was also made public on the occasion puts Nepal in 10th place among the countries with the highest prevalence of stunting. Afghanistan has the highest of 59 percent while Bhutan and India follow Nepal with 48 percent. India, however, has the largest number of stunted children at around 60 million due to its huge population.
Talking to myrepublica.com, UNICEF Representative to Nepal Gillian Mellsop linked the problem of malnutrition to economic development and said the productivity of the country is affected as malnourished children do not grow into a physically and mentally competent adult.
Apart from poverty, she also attributed the problem of malnutrition to the status of women in Nepal. “They (women) have to work hard and are themselves malnourished. They don´t even have time to feed the children due to work and a mother only weans her child above six months 1.2 times a day on an average while she should ideally feed the child 5-6 times a day,” Mellsop said.
The national nutritional report states that while commendable progress has been made in addressing micronutrient (vitamin A, iodine) deficiencies in Nepal, not enough has been done to tackle general malnutrition.
The Health Ministry has urged the government to take an integrated approach to tackle the problem of malnutrition with the involvement of National Planning Commission, agriculture ministry and education ministry.
“The fact that one in every two children is suffering from chronic malnutrition has severe consequences on intellectual capacity in the country. Nepal will always be deprived of its full potential if this is not addressed. This is a very serious concern for all,” said Director General of DOHS Dr Yeshovardhan Pradhan.
Director of Child Health Division of DOHS Dr Shyam Raj Upreti warned that the issue of malnourishment will seriously prevent Nepal from attaining all Millennium Development Goals.
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