KATHMANDU, March 13: When children do not eat well, they often get sick. Regular treatment is not always enough to make them better. That is why giving them good food is also important for their recovery.

The government has expanded the distribution of therapeutic milk to children with complex illnesses, including complex malnutrition, as part of the nutrition rehabilitation program. Administered by the Nutrition Section of the Department of Health Services, this milk, formulated with special ingredients meeting World Health Organization standards, cannot be purchased commercially. It aims to combat malnutrition among affected children effectively.

"This milk brought from abroad cannot be bought anywhere in the market," said Leela Vikram Thapa, head of the nutrition branch. Thapa said that after consuming this therapeutic milk, children suffering from severe malnutrition can be saved from premature death.

Thapa said that this service is going to be expanded by providing the first level of services to the nutrition rehabilitation centers that have already been established.

Within this service, critically ill and malnourished children are treated with medication for a period of stabilization after arrival at the hospital. They are then given nutritional therapy.

In this therapy, children receive therapeutic milk, medications, and equipment for monitoring their height and weight. Hospital staff, including doctors and nurses, undergo counseling training to administer this treatment effectively. The distribution of therapeutic milk and materials is managed by the Federal Health Service Department's Nutrition Section, while monitoring is coordinated by the Provincial Health Directorate.

Thapa said that this service has already been extended to six hospitals within the current fiscal year and they are preparing to conduct counseling training at the remaining two hospitals. 

Thapa said that the goal is to expand this service in the remaining 17 hospitals next year. "The service has been expanded in six hospitals, training is being done in the remaining two," he said.

Under this counseling training, training is given on how to admit a complex malnourished child to any unit of the hospital, how to cure other diseases, how to identify and refer to complex malnourished children in the community, etc.

In the current fiscal year, this service has been extended to eight hospitals, including Dadeldhura Hospital, Seti Provincial Hospital, Surkhet Provincial Hospital, Lumbini Provincial Hospital, Prithvi Chandra Hospital in Nawalparasi.

According to the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2022, the number of malnourished children under the age of five with stunted growth in Nepal is 25 percent. Of them, 22 percent are in cities and 31 percent are in villages. According to the geographical area, 22 percent of such children are in the hills, 25 percent in the Terai and 42 percent in the Himalayan region. Eight percent of children under the age of five have obesity. This rate was 57 percent in 2001.

 
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