Kathmandu, April 28: The government is set to launch a nationwide “National Nutrition Screening Campaign” from today to assess the nutritional status of children across the country.
According to Lila Bikram Thapa, Chief of the Nutrition Section at the Department of Health Services, the campaign will determine children’s nutritional condition by measuring their height and weight. He said the programme will cover around 2.2 million children aged between six and 59 months to identify and treat cases of acute malnutrition in a timely manner.
The campaign will run from April 28 to May 13. Under this initiative, female community health volunteers or nearby health institutions will measure the mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) of children to assess their nutritional status. Children identified with malnutrition will be provided free ready-to-use therapeutic food through outpatient treatment centres.
The screening will be conducted at health facilities, vaccination centres, community clinics, ward offices, community buildings, and early childhood development centres.
Thapa noted that children suffer mainly from moderate acute malnutrition and severe acute malnutrition. Around 30 to 40 percent of children are affected by moderate acute malnutrition, while about 1 percent suffer from severe acute malnutrition. Children with moderate malnutrition are typically underweight and thin for their age, while those with severe malnutrition appear extremely thin with visible ribs. #nutrition
