Around 25 percent of children in Holiya area of Daduwa Rural Municipality, Banke are found suffering from malnutrition, according to the District Public Health Office (DPHO) data.

During a recent health check-up, officials have found 10 percent of the malnutrition cases are of severe nature and 15 percent moderate. “It’s a serious condition. According to the World Health Organization, this type of condition is considered as ‘emergency condition’,” said DPHO chief Khim Bahadur Khadka.

Having found the situation critical in Holiya of Daduwa Rural Municipality, the DPHO is now planning to conduct health check-up campaigns in all of the municipalities and rural municipalities in the district. As per the record of the DPHO, around 5 percent of children below two years were found suffering from severe malnutrition in the district in the past.

Banke has an estimated 55,000 children below five. Health workers said that children from mostly the Madhesi, Dalit and landless communities are found malnourished. “We are trying to minimise the rate of severe malnutrition. All health workers, including 789 women health volunteers, are receiving training to cure malnutrition affected children,” said DPHO chief Khadka.

The women health volunteers will identify the malnourished children and take them to the health centres for treatment, said Khadka. The DPHO is planning to establish 14 Nutrition Rehabilitation Homes (NRH) to cure malnourished children in eight local units.

The malnourished children are being taken to the Nepalgunj-based NRH and other government hospitals if they could not be treated at the local health posts.