Nepal
Nepal
Type of intervention
- Nutrition and health
Places of interventions
- Terai region
After ten years of armed conflicts and instable governments, the security, law and order are still compromised in Nepal, and the culture of impunity is current. In 2011, the Human Development Index ranked Nepal to the 157th on 187 countries, according to the UNDP.
The impact of several unstable governments is obvious on the country’s situation. The nepalese economy won’t be improved until the resolution of the governance key issues. In 2010, inflation peaked at 8,8%.
The humanitarian environment is affected by a combination of factors, like the rising food prices, droughts, floods and landslides. Under-nutrition in the country is also the consequence of several things, from geographical constraints to institutional disabilities. The population’s nutritional state, depending on regions, is caused by poverty, development gaps, armed conflicts impacts, hygiene and care practices, traditions and violation of human rights, low food intakes and deficiencies.
In 2001, 5 districts were classified as in food insecurity situation by the World Food Program. In 2010, this number rose to 32. In Nepal, the population suffering from acute food insecurity is about 3,48 million inhabitants.
It’s the reason why Action Against Hunger reopened its mission in Nepal in August 2011 which had been closed in 2009. In collaboration with the Nepalese Health and Population Minister, ACF has developed nutrition and health programs to address acute under-nutrition issue in some regions of the country.
Funding
ACF, CDC
Key figures of the country
- Population: 30,5 million
- Life expectancy: 68,8 years old
- Human Index Development: 157/187
- GDP/inhabitants: 436 US$
Sources: UNDP, UN
Il n'y a pas de résultat
According to the Nepalese Demographic and Health Survey in 2011, 11% of children were affected by emaciation and close to three children out of 10 (29%) suffered from low weight. According to those indicators, children living in rural areas are more vulnerable to under-nutrition than the ones in urban areas. Around half of the children living in mountainous regions are stunted and more than one third are underweight. Children whose mothers haven’t been educated are more vulnerable to become underweight and stunted or affected by emaciation, than other ones. Poor hygiene practices and the lack of sanitation access are responsible for the spreading of hydraulic diseases. According to the World Food Organization, the diarrhea is the death cause of 15% of children under 5 years old in Nepal.
Recent data show that only 31% of the population has an access to improved sanitation structures and 88% have an access to drinking water. Nepal isn’t on the good way to reach the Millennium Development Goals regarding sanitation. If the situation doesn’t evolves, then those goals won’t be reached until 2030.
Further, Nepal was identified as one of the principal “hot spots” in terms of natural disasters by the World Bank. Several surveys rank Nepal as the 11th in terms of relative vulnerability to earthquakes, as 6th in terms of climatic change risks and 30th in terms of flood risks. Every year, especially during rainy seasons, the country is affected by natural disasters leading to human losses and material damages.
ACF first worked in Nepal between 2005 and 2009, especially because of the lack of investments to launch programs, and despite the important local needs, ACF had to close the mission in June 2009. However, ACF reopened its mission at the end of August 2011 after a survey in January and because of the high population needs. The absence of experts in acute under-nutrition management and the emaciation rates (11%) registered the last 5 years have prompted ACF to intervene and work on the principal causes of the high under-nutrition rates.
The Health and Population Minister and UNICEF are hardly addressing acute under-nutrition issue in Terai region. ACF and the Health and Population Minister are collaborating to contribute to the monitoring, the evaluation and the data analysis of acute under-nutrition care programs with a communitarian approach. The Health and Population Minister also suggested to ACF to intervene in the oriental Teraï regions where the acute under-nutrition rate is as high as in Western and central ones and where the number of potential beneficiaries is higher. The reason of this positioning is the lack of experimented others actors in the region.