Two-thirds of all children suffering from malnutrition are South Asians.

Around 336 million people are chronically hungry in South Asia, with one-third of all child deaths linked to malnutrition.

Issues such as the one mentioned above, were discussed by participants at the South Asian Regional Knowledge Forum on Tuesday to encourage the world community to provide innovative ideas and timely intervention to save the lives of around one billion children suffering from chronic hunger.

The two-day event titled ‘sharing lessons from community experiences and improving infant and young child nutrition’ was held in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, and was jointly organised by the World Bank, UN children’s fund and South Asia Food and Nutrition Security Initiatives (Safansi).

Participants from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal highlighted how despite economic growth in the region, two thirds of all children suffering from malnutrition were South Asians. Akhtar Rashid, who was representing the government of Punjab, said that a mobile phone service had been launched in the province to mobilise the community and create awareness about breastfeeding.

“We have selected a few villages where SMS service has been started. The social mobilisers identify people on the field before sending them text messages,” said Rashid, adding that the service had proved to be a great success.

South Asia has the highest rate of malnutrition, making it the single largest cause of child mortality in the region. Underweight children account for over 33% in Afghanistan, 41% in Bangladesh, 43% in India, 39% in Nepal, 31% in Pakistan and 22% in Sri Lanka.

The host country, Nepal, received a Millennium Development Goal award on its commitment and progress towards attaining the maternal mortality rate (MMR), set by the United Nations.

“We have reduced the MMR from 415 deaths in 2000 to 229 deaths in 2010 per 100,000 live births,” said National Planning Commission chief Atma Ram Pandey.

Source: The Express Tribune

Visionary food

Besides getting fit and worry about staying healthy, have you thought about your eyes?

Your eyes are definitely a very important part of your body and you need to maintain excellent eyesight for years to come! If you are young it may be tempting to tell yourself that you won’t be old for a while — why worry about it now? However, the truth is starting now and applying the right tips will maintain your eyes for years to come. Your eyes most certainly deserve it.

So applying a few fundamental rules as well as discovering the right kind of food to eat to take care of your eyes is important. Only you have control of your diet and what food your body is taking in. So choose wisely and start eating the pertinent foods that will keep your eyesight excellent for years to come. Here are 10 foods that will help improve your eyes —

Spinach: Protect your eyes from eye diseases by eating spinach. Spinach contains a caratenoid, which is called lutein. This protects your eyes from macular degeneration and getting cataracts when you are older.

Garlic: Continue to improve your eyesight by implementing garlic. Garlic contains sulphur, which will make your lens resilient and stronger over time.

Apricots: Start eating more apricots because they have lots of vitamin A, which helps restore your eyes after they’ve been affected by free radicals. You’ll also find caretenoids in apricots, which will help improve your vision.

Carrots: You’ve probably heard a lot about carrots and the reason why they are great for your eyes! Containing a lot of vitamin A and the antioxidant beta carotene, carrots are excellent for your eye health. They also help prevent blindness!

Eggs: This is another type of food that’s very good for your eyes. Eggs have great vitamins and they also contain sulphur, lecithin, amino acids, and more. These all will help prevent eye problems such as cataracts later in life.

Soy: Do you like soy milk? If you do you’re in luck because soy contains vitamin E, natural anti-inflammatory agents, and other great vitamins. Besides, soy milk soy can be found in other products such as beans, yogurt, and other food items too.

Dark chocolate: If you have a sweet tooth you are in luck! There’s one delicious dessert that will help your eyes. Dark chocolate contains flavanoids and this will help protect the blood vessels in your eyes. So help your lens and cornea stay in great shape by occasionally eating dark chocolate. You can eat it guilt free knowing you’re doing your eyes good!

So now that you have a great list of food items that will help your eyesight and overall eye health, head to the grocery store and stock up on these key food items.Your eye health is very important because you need to see well without having problems. 

So take your eyesight seriously and start eating foods that will help improve your eyes. — Agencies

Source: The Himalaya Times

केक र कुकीले स्मरणशक्ति घटाउँछ

वैज्ञानिकहरुका अनुसार केक, कुकी, जाम तथा जेली लगायतका फास्टफूड बढि खाने मानिसको स्मरण शक्ति कमजोर बन्दै जान्छ ।

कुकी तथा केक लगायतका खाद्य पदार्थले मानिसको मस्तिष्कको काम गर्ने तरिकालाई प्रभावित पार्ने अनुसन्धानकर्ताहरुको भनाइ छ । यस्ता खाद्यपदार्थ खाने मानिसको स्मरण शक्ति कम हुँदै जान्छ । तथापि फ्याट्टी अम्ल हुने खानाहरुले भने स्मरणशक्ति तेज बन्ने बताइन्छ ।

अमेरिकाको लस एन्जल्सका वैज्ञानिकहरुले मुसामा गरेको अध्ययनले यस्तो देखाएको हो । अनुसन्धानको क्रममा कुकी, केक लगायतका फास्टफूड खुवाइएका मुसाहरु पज्जल पार गर्न असफल भएको पाइयो भने सामान्य खाना दिइएका मुसाहरुले त्यस्तो पज्जल पार गरे ।

मुसाको मस्तिष्क मानिसको सँग धेरै मेल खाने भएकाले यो सिद्धान्त मानिसमा पनि लागु हुने वैज्ञानिकहरुको भनाइ छ ।

Source: Online Khabar

School health nutrition for all

SIMONE GALIMBERTI

The quest for an inclusive and accessible education can be effectively translated into reality if along the existing initiatives like scholarship for disadvantaged groups, multi lingual education, special provisions for differently 

able children, the local schools are turned into hubs for health and hygiene promotion. 

The latter option could be seen as a true game changer in the education and health sector thanks to the School Health and Nutrition, SHN model. The concept is simple, new and “Fresh” in the sense that is based on the internationally accepted model of “Focusing Resources for Effective School Health”. Imagine if certain basic health services, like vision, hearing and height screenings are offered at school level, think if a local teacher with the support of the local child club can monitor the hygiene status of the students, considers the benefits of offering simple oral health services to all students.All these could be done through periodic checkups, awareness making activities and involvement of the communities. We are not talking about schools replacing local health posts but rather extending the services of national health system through local schools.

The good thing is that this scenario is not a far dream but it is actually a reality in Nepal. Still we are very far from extending and scaling it up to all the student population of the country. Indeed the “National Strategy on SHN” approved by the Government in 2006 is facing a midlife crisis: no more in its initial stage, it has not been incorporated neither mainstreamed into the national education system yet. 

Unfortunately the School Sector Reform Plan does not even mention SHN but it was heartening to know that the Department of Education very recently requested the Ministry of Education to formally include SHN in the School Sector Reform Plan. 

Now we have a huge opportunity offered by the “Multisectoral Nutrition Plan” recently finalized by the National Planning Commission. This ambitious plan brings on the same board different stakeholders engaged in the nutrition sector and, if fully applied end mainstreamed, offers a fantastic platform for fighting malnutrition at all the levels.

It is still to be seen how SHN that offers interventions also beyond the nutritional sector can be fully incorporated and mainstreamed in this plan but the evidence is strong for suggesting flexibility in finding venues for incorporating the School Health and Nutrition Strategy into Multisectoral Nutrition Plan.

Water and sanitation components are vital too. Without adequate WASH infrastructures and conducive habits, the concept of child friendly school will remain unrealized, hampering the efforts of the Government and donor communities in improving the quality of learning at school level. In few words, SHN is a soft approach but so holistic, integrated and comprehensive that the health indicators of the nation can be improved because of it.

Malnutrition can be reduced, infections can be prevented, and hygiene can be drastically enhanced because of sustainable and doable SHN approach.

It is sustainable because it integrates already existing services being provided by the Ministry of Health and Population with the overall efforts of the Ministry of Education to provide inclusive and quality education for all. It is doable because the schools and local communities can be put in charge of the program and do the work. Technical health personnel can play an important role, but we should not forget how much the communities can do with a little guidance and help.

What they simply need is some technical knowledge that can be easily transferred through accessible trainings and a bit of more cooperation between education and health authorities at local level.On positive note, a “Minimum Package of Interventions on SHN” has been developed by the National Network on School Health and Nutrition. The Minimum Package goes side by side with the “National Joint Action Plan on SHN” that offers a fantastic opportunity to scale up in gradual and sustainable manner the program at national level. This plan, although incomplete as it does not properly address the early childhood development for example, needs to be fully disseminated and better mainstreamed. 

Interestingly, the Plan foresees the establishment of a new section within the Department of Education for SHN and WASH related matter. This new institutional set up will facilitate the implementation of health and hygiene related activities while ensuring better technical cooperation from the Ministry of Health and Population.

Coordination is the most indispensible element for successful implementation of SHN. Both Ministries of Education and Health and Population have fruitful cooperation at central level. Many of the SHN activities are already being implemented by the Ministry of Health and Population like distribution of de-worming tablets, iron folic supplementation tablets, first aid kits. Encouragingly mid day meals are distributed in 35 districts. The final goal would be to have health posts establishing a working relationship with the local schools for effective implementation of SHN activities.Let’s empower and equip our schools to become agents of change also in the promotion of health and hygiene. It is value for money and it makes sense.

Source: The Himalayan Times

Climate Conversations - Malnutrition increases on the horizon in south Asia

A woman pulls a goat as she wades out of the flood waters in the Badin district of Pakistan's Sindh province on September 22, 2011. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro

By Saleem Shaikh and Sughra Tunio

Malnutrition is worsening in developing countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and India because of the impacts of climate change - particularly on water resources, a key input for producing food for more than a billion people in the region.

Climate change and rising temperatures have now badly disturbed food production patterns and have deepened food insecurity.  Malnutrition is particularly increasing in the countries where large populations are dependent on rain-fed subsistence farming.

Climate change, growing use of food crops as a source of fuel and soaring food prices are three major challenges that threaten efforts to overcome food insecurity and malnutrition according to ‘Impact of Climate Change and Bioenergy on Nutrition’ a joint report by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

According to the report, food security has four dimensions: food availability, access to food, stability of supply and access, and the safety and health of food.

Besides climate change and rising demand for bioenergy, other factors can hamper efforts to reduce malnutrition, including widespread land degradation and scarcity of fresh water resources, and structural shifts in the food and agricultural systems.

CUT CLIMATE CHANGE TO CUT HUNGER

That means some not-very-obvious ways of cutting malnutrition could have a big effect. That’s things like cutting emissions of greenhouse gases through improved transport, adopting better food producing techniques and making the choice to use greener energy.

Global population is expected to gallop up by 37 percent by 2050, to 9.2 billion. Global economic and food experts at the World Bank and FAO predict that economic growth of 6 percent per year in developing countries during the next few years, combined with rapid urbanization, will drive demand for food to new heights just as food production contracts.

They warn of substantial risks to food production from the spread of plant pests, animal diseases and invasive species across international borders – something climate change could worsen.

Subsistence farmers in developing countries, dependent on agriculture, will be particularly vulnerable to climate change.

Other groups similarly at risk of worsening food security include pastoralists, indigenous people, coastal communities and artisanal fishermen.

Changing weather patterns linked to climate change will cause more intense and longer droughts, and the frequency of heavy precipitation events is increasing over most of the world’s land areas. There is likelihood that heat waves and future tropical cyclones will become more intense.

Droughts and water scarcity can reduce the diversity of diets and bring down overall food consumption, worsening malnutrition. Flooding, sea level rise and worsening storm surges could expose more people to diarrhoea and other diseases, lowering their capacity to use food efficiently.

Adapting to the coming pressures will be crucial. Adaptation actions could include extension or intensification of existing risk management or simply efforts to produce more food.

Just as important will be making infrastructure climate change-resilient and building capacity to adapt broadly into communities and institutions.

Source: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/blogs/climate-conversations/malnutrition-increases-on-the-horizon-in-south-asia

NEPAL: Gender discrimination fuels malnutrition

KHALANGA BAZAAR, 22 September 2011 (IRIN) - Gender discrimination lies behind much of the malnutrition found in under-five children in Nepal, say locals and experts.

In Khalanga Bazaar, the headquarters of Jumla District in Nepal's remote mid-west, there is evidence of seasonal plenty - apples and walnuts in abundance - yet last month a three-year-old child died of malnutrition in the neighbouring village of Urthu.

According to the preliminary Nepal Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) released in August, 29 percent of children under five are malnourished, and the problem is chronic in remote parts of the Mid-Western Region. The most recent regional figures (in the NDHS 2006report) show more than half of the children are chronically malnourished.

“Girls are neglected because they are thought not to need strength,” Indra Raj Panta, programme officer for Decentralized Action for Children and Women in Jumla, told IRIN.

Women live hard lives from day one, born with no fanfare, contrasting starkly to the six-day celebration to mark the birth of a boy. Walking along the road from one village to the next, women and girls bear the weight of baskets of apples, rocks or bags of rice, while men and boys tag alongside unburdened.

Despite the physical demands of a woman’s daily life, boys and husbands eat first and are offered the most nutritious food, often leaving girls and women with leftovers.

Pregnant women still labour

The role of a woman as labourer does not ease while pregnant either: The same work is done, the same weight is borne. And the local belief that leafy, green vegetables are bad for babies, results in a seriously restricted diet contributing to the puzzling chronic malnutrition found in the remote Karnali Zone.

"Malnutrition in Nepal is an intergenerational cycle,” said Sophiya Uprety, a nutritionist for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Kathmandu. She explained that supporting pregnant women with a nutritious and adequate diet, rest and care did more than improve a person’s strength - it bolstered society as well.

“Breaking this vicious cycle would later on not only translate into better physical abilities, but also mental and cognitive abilities,” she said.

Research indicates that about half of stunting in children occurs before birth and up to two years old. Girls who are not fed well, turn into women who are more likely to give birth to low weight babies, and so the cycle perpetuates.

Tara devi Sejuwal, an auxillary health worker in Urthu, confirmed the need to improve support for pregnant women in the community.

“Not enough is being done for maternal health. Even mother-in-laws discourage check-ups [for their daughters-in-laws] because it is not what they had when they were pregnant themselves,” she said.

Photo: Natalie Bailey/IRIN

Life expectancy for women is 50; for men, 58

Early marriage, early childbirth and inadequate spacing of births are additional issues contributing to the low health of people in her village where stunting and wasting is pervasive.

Nearly a quarter of Nepalese women have their first child before they are 18 and more than half by the time they are 20, according to the 2006 NDHS report.

More than riceThe Karnali highway, built about three years ago, has meant improved access to food in the region, and crops are performing relatively well - there is a surplus of vegetables and potatoes - but Jumla is reporting a 12 percent food shortage this year, according to the district agriculture office.

Jumla has been food secure for the past three months, but community officials are anticipating a food shortage in the coming six months due to heavy rains throughout the growing season, said Bed Prasad Chaulagain Dado, Jumla's chief district agricultural development officer.

Poor feeding habits are also a problem: “They only want rice, rice and rice,” Dado said.

WFP has local partners on the ground spreading the word on how to eat the nutritious food available. Awareness on how to construct a healthy diet is improving, but the culture of gender discrimination is harder to shift, say aid workers.

The Nepal Red Cross, WFP and other NGOs are combating discrimination by mandating women’s participation in committees, trying to create opportunities for economic independence, and by improving education. But these efforts require women to change their own situation, and exclude men from the process, said Hari Prasad Subedi, organizational development manager with the Nepal Red Cross.

“To make a change we must have male-based programmes,” he said. “There are women’s empowerment programmes and the women learn, but then they can’t communicate it at home. Things need to change one household - one husband and wife at a time.”



Source; IRIN

Nepal betters on its fight against hunger

KUVERA CHALISE

KATHMANDU: Nepal has improved in the Global Hunger Index. But this still gives one lots of food for thought.

Though Nepal has improved its score to 19.9 from 23 last year, it has managed to climb up just one category — from alarming to serious level of hunger situation. It ranks 33rd among seriously hunger affected countries and 55th in the overall GHI which has ranked 81 nations this year.

Nonetheless, the country is on a winning path in its fight against hunger. In 1990, the country had a score of 27.1, in 1996, 24.6 and in 2010 it further came down, reflecting an improving situation.

“From food deficit situation in 2009, the country recorded 4,43,000 metric tonnes of foodgrains surplus in the last fiscal years,” said Hari Dahal, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.

Despite the positive trend, the global fight against hunger is not reaching its goals fast enough, states GHI, adding some 29 countries still have an alarming (20-29.9) or extremely alarming (over 30) hunger situation.

When it comes to South Asia, despite economic growth between 1990 and 1996, the scores in the region have not changed much.

The major problem in the South Asian region is high prevalence of underweight children under five, which is attributed to lower nutrition and women’s educational status.

Though South Asia shares the highest regional GHI scores with Sub-Saharan Africa — 21.7 and 22.9 respectively — food insecurity in these two regions stems from different reasons.

What is GHI?

KATHMANDU: The International Food Policy Research Institute calculates the Global Hunger Index every year. GHI is a multidimensional statistical tool used to describe the state of countries’ hunger situation. The index also measures progress and failures in the global fight against hunger. It calculates the countries on a 100 point scale, with zero being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst, though neither of these extremes is achieved in practice. The lower the score, the better the food situation of a country.

Source; THE HIMALAYAN TIMES