According to Raj Kumar Pokharel, Nutrition Section Chief at the Child Health Division (CHD), babies from six to 24 months old in all five districts of Karnali Zone, arguably the most backward region of the country, will start receiving sachets of fortified flour shortly after Tihar festival.[break]
"The wait is finally over," Pokharel said. "Now, post-Tihar, we will start distributing fortified flour in Karnali." According to Pokharel, the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) has approved the quality of fortified flour that the CHD purchased through open bidding.
In a bid to tackle the problem of malnourishment, which has been adversely affecting the government´s effort to bring down the child mortality rate, Finance Minister Surendra Pandey announced in last fiscal year´s budget that high-nutrition food would be provided to all children in Karnali Zone.
However, because of delay in the Ministry of Finance (MoF) allocating the required money, the bidding process for purchase of fortified flour for children in Karnali, presumed the most vulnerable to malnourishment, kicked in much later, postponing this first-of-its-kind program to next year.
Although statistical breakdown showing the severity of child malnutrition in Karnali is not available, the second National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) conducted in 2006 painted a grim picture of the overall state of malnourishment.
As per the NDHS, 49 percent of children below five are stunted across the country. This means that almost one in every two children is suffering from lack of growth due to malnutrition. Similarly, the numbers of wasted and underweight children are respectively 12.6 and 39 percent.
"We do not know how many children are malnourished in Karnali," Pokharel said, adding, "However, we assume that they are pretty vulnerable compared to children in other parts of the country." Hence, Karnali´s children have been given priority in this program, Pokharel said.
Under the program, every child in Karnali under two will get a one-and-half kg sachet of high-nutrition flour every month. Although the World Food Program (WFP), under its Mother and Child Health Care (MCHC) program, has been distributing nutritious food to children in some select remote districts for some years now, not a single nutrition program targetted specifically at Karnali´s children was announced before this.
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