Weird Worriers of Nepal

While attending seminars and conferences as a guest of my friend Arun (a doctor) and another friend Krishna (a reporter) in Nepal during my vacation at star hotels or posh resorts in and around Kathmandu, people I mingled with included the national and international luminaries with thick resume and great influence in the government. They often talked about making Nepal a better place to live. By listening to them, any unsuspecting person would think that they were the real worriers of Nepal. However, that impression dissipated soon after the cocktails that followed. The worriers thought their jobs were done when the power-point presentation or resolute speeches were over. But the brainstorming on the same subject continued with each round of cocktails. The vicious cycle kept going for quite some time, already costing a large chunk of budget even before the project was kicked off. There was always a ghost at those receptions. Honestly, I failed to recognize the ghost during those times. I myself loved cocktails then. I wish I had known the ghost and asked my friend to report about him instead of doing affirmative reporting of such events. I don’t know, however, if it would have made any difference, had the ghost – malnutrition – was reported adequately. Malnutrition muddles Nepal without any limit. According to government sources, a child dies of ailment related to malnutrition every ten minutes. This means up to 50,000 children die per year because of under nourishment. I don’t think we need any more data to justify the seriousness of this case. I wonder what will happen to Nepal in 20 years when the national economy will have to depend on today’s malnourished children who are surviving to suffer more than to offer their services. The nation after two decades is more likely to be a place with youths with disturbing health conditions and old people with chronic depression as more and more youths of today who fought the Maoist insurgency or are living abroad by doing risky manual jobs will return home seeking support from their offspring. The reason behind this worry for Nepal is more acute because of the finding of science, “Malnutrition is globally the most important risk factor for illness and death, contributing to more than half of deaths in children worldwide; child malnutrition was associated with 54% of deaths in children in developing countries in 2001 (WHO, Blossner, Monika, de Onis, Mercedes. Malnutrition). Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), first described in the 1920s, is observed most frequently in developing countries but has been described with increasing frequency in hospitalized and chronically ill children in the United States” (Hendricks KM, Duggan C, Gallagher L, Malnutrition in hospitalized pediatric patients). Although the communist forces in Nepal, including the Maoists, claim that they are pro-poor, their behaviors do not exhibit so. While the Maoists were in power nothing was done to launch a campaign against this and other serious national maladies. Now that the present government is headed by a communist party, it seems busy in appeasing affairs than addressing the real problems that mark the future of Nepal’s health. Willingness to ignore from the affluent class is another problem in developing Nepal. Forget about the upper and middle class people, even the lower middle class folks, which constitute the largest populace in one of the world’s poorest countries, live in ignorance of the poor. Charity organizations on food and human services are almost non-existent in Nepal to support the government. You may be surprised to learn that the UN mission and its affiliates are no less corrupt than Nepal’s bureaucracy. It has been so dependent on Nepal’s nagging administration that it cannot hold its own independent survey on most health or other matters to suggest to the government or raise the eye brows of the international donors or aid agencies. The WHO’s recent health updates about Nepal bears nothing different from 2006. The serious challenge about this public health crisis in Nepal is denial. Government claims are often a lie. Nobody wants to look ugly while in power and thus ignores the facts. It is understandable that the government is not sincere addressing this and other problems which have no political gain. The decision to eradicate malnutrition should have priority if the present government thinks it is responsible for the future of Nepal. The government can work effectively through Right to Food movement, making mandatory enforcement provisions. It should be ready to reward the hard working office bearers and fine those who are at fault executing their duties and responsibilities. Nepalese people, the tax payers for the salaries of the officials deserve a lot better care and services from them. Nepal could learn from her northern neighbor in this regard. China has cut child malnutrition by two thirds from 1990 to 2002. The UN records show that today, only 7 percent of the Chinese children under age 5 are underweight. The Chinese government asserts strict law enforcement as the guiding force behind the success of this health drive. India is now following the suit. One does not have to have a communist government to enforce law and order in the nation. Any successful democracy in the world has done so to maintain the overall health of the nation. The media should also treat the malnutrition problem as markedly as it would do to any other pandemics, for example: famine. I regard malnutrition as the famine of future. I would be happy if you do take this problem in that way and help awake the Nepalese government which is in slumber on health matters.

Works Cited:
WHO. Malnutrition-The Global Picture. World Health Organization. Available at http://www.who.int/home-page/
Blossner, Monika, de Onis, Mercedes. Malnutrition: quantifying the health impact at national and local levels. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2005. Environmental Burden of Disease Series.
Hendricks KM, Duggan C, Gallagher L, et al. Malnutrition in hospitalized pediatric patients. Current prevalence. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. Oct 1995;149(10):1118-22.