Rajni Devi Sada of Bhaluwaha said that the relief distribution work started by the municipality has not reached Bhaluwaha. She said that she survived by boiling snails and snails in all the rivers and ponds of the village. "There are 10-11 pregnant women in our settlement now," she said.
Jivachhi Devi Das of Bisanbhora, Shaheed Municipality-8, Dhanusha, who returned home after giving birth at the Janakpurdham Provincial Hospital 15 days ago, has not received nutritious food. Her mother-in-law Ashadevi said that she was saving her pregnant daughter-in-law by asking for dalchamal. No relief team has reached Bisanbhora.
Government data shows that 48 percent of the people in State 2 are living in multidimensional poverty. Most of the Dalits and Muslims, who make up 70 per cent of the population, are suffering from poverty. Almost all of these communities now feel the need for relief.
The condition of the poor
In Province 2, most of the midwives have not been able to get enough food. They have complained that the pulses, rice, oil, salt and potatoes distributed by the state government and local levels have not reached the deprived settlements. Pregnant women who need nutritious food and pregnant women have not been able to eat normal dal rice. Adequate milk and vaccinations for newborns have become a matter of imagination.
According to experts, the main cause of maternal and infant mortality is lack of nutritious food and vaccines. Children who have grown up with a lack of nutrition and vaccines are more likely to have anemia and disability. Province 2 is still the second most malnourished region in Nepal after Karnali. According to government data, 59 percent of children between the ages of 6 months and 59 months are anemic.
Similarly, 58 percent of women aged 15-49 years have anemia and 36.8 percent of children have low birth weight. The condition of malnutrition will automatically increase if proper care is given to the baby born in the house of the destitute during the lockdown and nutritious food is not provided to the pregnant and child up to 5 years of age.
Secretary at the Ministry of Social Development under the state government, Ram Prasad Ghimire, said that while fighting against Corona, there was no attention in the slums. He said, "Even though attention has been paid to quarantine and maternity coming to the hospital, no attention has been paid to the settlement."
Increased risk of malnutrition: Public health experts
The ongoing lockdown in Nepal due to the corona virus has left wage workers and the extremely poor in a state of starvation. Public health expert Rajkumar Mahato says pregnant, maternity, and children under the age of five are at high risk of malnutrition.
He is of the opinion that the lockdown adopted to avoid one epidemic has increased the risk of other epidemics such as hunger and malnutrition. He said that this situation came about due to inability to manage the food items required inside the lockdown. "For this, the government at all three levels has to make the relief distribution very effective," says Mahato.
According to him, malnourished people have a weakened immune system. Nutritionist Mahato says that more attention should be paid to corona infection.
