Around five percent of children under the age of five in Banke are suffering from severe malnutrition.

According to the District Public Health Office (DPHO) data, around 1,062 children of under five in the district are severely malnourished. The actual number of the malnourished children in Banke could be higher as many of the cases go unreported. There are around 55,000 children of that age group in the district.

Children belonging to Madhesi, Dalit and landless communities in the district are found to have been severely malnourished. Angad Bahadur Shahi, focal person of the DPHO Nutrition Programme, advised that the malnourished children should be given more amount of protein in their diet.

“Though there are proper amount of food stuffs in their home, the parents are unable to feed their babies due to lack of proper knowledge,” said Shahi, adding that the government and the various organisations working in the field of food and hygiene should create awareness in people.

According to the Nepal Demographic Health Survey 2011, 41 percent of children are dwarf due to improper diet. Likewise, 29 percent of children have not gained weight according to their age, 11 percent are malnourished and 46 percent have shown the symptoms of Anemia. The food insecurity in Banke has increased due to erosion of fertile land and destruction of crops near the park area by wild animals, according to experts.