Health workers, who were deployed to monitor the impact of the devastating earthquake on small children and their mothers, said that Reason should weigh at least of 11 kilograms as per his age. They said that the mother and child both suffer from malnutrition because Reason's mother could not give proper attention to the baby and herself after the earthquake.The devastating earthquake caused many families to be displaced from their residences and live in makeshift shelters. Health workers informed that another two children in the same village have severe malnutrition.
District Public Health Office (DPHO), Nuwakot, said that cases of malnutrition in the district have risen to alarming levels after the massive earthquake. The Nuwakot DPHO, which conducted the nutrition survey some three weeks ago, has found 89 children under the age of five suffering from worst form of malnutrition. "We have found hundreds of children malnourished. Eighty-nine of them have chronic malnutrition," Bishoram Shrestha, chief of DPHO, Nuwakot, said. He informed that pregnant women and new mothers are also malnourished and anemic.
According to Shrestha, the DPHO has been operating eight oral therapeutic program (OTP) targeting vulnerable children and their mothers. The DPHO has operating OTP centers in Betawati, Devighat, Chuagadha, Kharanitar, Likhu, Bhadrutar, Bidur and Okharpauwa of the district from where it distributes nutrient diet and treatment for malnourished children and their mothers twice a week.
"We risk losing the achievements obtained after several years of hard work and an investment of billions of rupees," said Shrestha. He said that negligence on the part of mothers was responsible for malnutrition. Shrestha said that the government has to launch nutrition campaigns and other intervention measures to curb the problem of malnutrition in the district.
Malnutrition was already a major nuisance for the authorities concerned, as the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS)-2011 shows that 41 percent of children under five are stunted. Twenty-nine percent are underweight, and 11 percent wasted. According to health experts, malnutrition slows overall development, including economic growth.
Related story
UNICEF estimates over 1,500 babies will be born in Nepal on New...
