Malnutrition data shows we are building Nepal on crumbling foundations

22 Jul 2017 - Priti Oli

Children are considered to be the foundation that the future of a nation rests upon. Only a proper investment in today’s children will bring us a better tomorrow. 

But a quick glance at child nourishment data on www.nepalmap.org shows that 40 % children under the age of five in Nepal are malnourished. Under such scenario, almost half of the children in Nepal do not get a well-balanced meal, which is bound to hamper nation’s development.

The six districts namely Humla, Bajhang, Baitadi, Surkhet, Doti, Achham, Okhaldhunga, Terhathum, Panchthar have a staggeringly high percentage of child malnourishment rate, all above 56 percent, with Humla being the district with the highest number of children malnourished. Only 4 out of 10 children in Humla get proper nourishment which is an alarming statistics.

Here are six districts with the highest rate of malnourished children under age five in Nepal

• Humla
• Tehrahathum
• Bajhang
• Achham
• Baitadi
• Surkhet

To find out malnourishment rates for children under age five in your districts, check out this **[interactive map](http://www.nepalmap.org/data/map/?table=CHILD_NOURISHMENT&geo_ids=district

country-NP,vdc

district-21,district

country-NP,district

country-NP&primary_geo_id=district-21#column%7Cpercent%20malnourished%2Csumlev%7Cdistrict). **

Possible reasons for such distribution could be poverty, lack of fertile land for cultivation: geography, climate being possible causes, unavailability of roads and other means of transport, lack of proper awareness and education, diseases accompanied during childbirth.

   To reduce the number of malnourished children, here are a few suggestions:

• Reliable transportation facility throughout the nation for the distribution of local, nutritious products in cheaper rates.
• Education and dissemination of information on nutrition. The government should also train local farmers on efficient agricultural practices such as crop rotation.
• Allocation of funding to child nutrition programs.
• Expand reach through community health workers
• Research and development to increase crop yields.

What do you think? Tell us in the comments.