Kathmandu,26 Jan 2014: At least 41 per cent of the total population of children below the age of five in Nepal is found to have been suffering from stunted growth due to malnutrition.
Of the total children born, 11 per cent usually suffer from emaciation and 29 per cent from low weight.
The record was read out from Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2011 at the Public Hearing Programme organized by Civil Society Alliance for Nutrition Nepal. The report further states that 50 districts in Nepal are witnessing problems of malnutrition.
On the occasion, Division Engineer at the Ministry of Urban Development, Hari Prasad Timalsena said the Ministry had been running three separate programmes in various districts to provide the local residents healthy drinking water, as unsafe drinking water is one of the causes contributing to malnutrition. He further elaborated that the Ministry did not have an independent programme to tackle the growing menace of malnutrition.
Agriculture Development Ministry’s senior planning official Jyotsana Shrestha said the Ministry was working from central and regional offices for collaboration in the local level and prioritized import of nutritional food commodities while increasing the food production.
Bishwomaya Neupane, representative from the Ministry of Women and Children, said 90 per cent of the problem of malnutrition could be eradicated through management of nutritional good for pregnant women.
The Alliance has been running a campaign to mitigate the problem of malnutrition in children in various parts of the country.
                                                                                  Source:RSS
