Local units in Baitadi district have started a ‘malnutrition-free Baitadi’ campaign. Under the campaign, the local units have been distributing nutritious food including chicken, eggs, ghee, green vegetables and vegetable seeds, along with sanitation products, to the families of malnourished children.

As per the report of Patan Municipality-9, 20 children have been found suffering from malnutrition in the ward. The municipality officials provided five chickens and Rs 1,000 to each of the children’s families.

Ward Chairman Lok Bahadur Bhandari said that they provided the money so the families could build a chicken coop.

“We have also distributed eggs, local ghee and sanitation products to pregnant women and new mothers,” Bhandari said.

Shivanath Rural Municipality has also provided care and nutritious food to its malnourished children.

Karna Singh Saud, chief of the rural municipality, said that they have provided layer hens to 60 families.

“We hope that the parents will now be able to feed nutritious food to their children,” Saud said.

Dogadakedar Rural Municipality and Purchaudi Municipality have also been distributing iodized salt, vegetable seeds, soaps and other sanitary products to pregnant women.

According to the Open Nepal Human Poverty Index (2011), 59.2 percent of children under the age of five were malnourished in Baitadi. In 2016, the Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) Program showed that 148 children were suffering from acute malnutrition in the district. The program had tested 3,415 children for the status of nutrition.

According to the WHO, a lack of access to highly nutritious food is a common cause of malnutrition in Nepal. The WHO says poor feeding practices, consuming the wrong food and not ensuring nutritious food for children contribute to malnutrition.