Bajura, November 30

A special treatment drive for malnourished children has been launched for the first time in various health facilities of Bajura.

According to District Health Office Bajura Chief Mohan Nath, the treatment of malnourished children began at five health centres of the district. Nath said the treatment had begun with support of the UNICEF and Integrated Rural Health Development Training Centre Nepal under the Ministry of Health.

UNICEF Nutrition Programme Coordinator Chandra Joshi said his organisation had started the special treatment after the number of malnourished children soared in the far-west region, including Bajura.

IRHDTC Programme Coordinator Dr Uday Prakash said the treatment of malnourished kids had started at the health centres of Martadi, Tante, Dogadi, Kolti, Rugin and Gotri VDCs.

The health of 4,368 children was checked in a period of two months in the district. The result revealed that an increasing number of children were suffering from malnutrition. Of them, 544 kids were suffering from medium malnutrition and 226 from hard malnutrition.

Dr Prakash said malnourished children will be treated for 42 days under the supervision of health workers. He added that 15 kids with hard malnutrition had returned home after treatment.

Nutrition Officer of IRHDTC, Poja Manandhar, said they had conducted health check up of all kids between the ages of six months and 59 months, and started special treatment for malnourished children.

Manandhar said that under the programme, health workers reached the villages, weighed the children and encouraged parents to visit health centres for regular check-up. The health workers also distributed antibiotics, vitamins and nutritious food to children as per their requirement.

Information Officer at District Health Office Ramchandra Yadav said cases of malnutrition had risen due to lack of nutritious food, health care, sanitation and balanced diet, among others.

Data at the DHO shows that more than 47 per cent children are suffering from malnutrition in the district.