Every ten minutes a child dies of ailment related with malnutrition in Nepal and this totals to 50,000 deaths every year, Child Health Division (CHD) of Nepal said here Monday.

"Malnutrition leads to various diseases leading to children's deaths so, small initiative can make a huge difference in saving the lives of the children," said Yasovardan Pradhan, director at the CHD.

"The rate of decrease in child mortality due to malnutrition is 4.6 percent and with this Nepal can achieve the Millennium Development Goal related with child mortality," said Pradhan when addressing a program for media professionals on the role of Nutrition for the attainment of Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Sarada Pandey, chief of Nutrition Section of CHD, said the Nepali government has introduced new programs such as breast feeding week and nutrition week with an aim to raise awareness on nutritional aspect to reduce the child mortality rate.

"Good nutrition is everybody's fundamental right," Pandey said, adding, "Poor nutrition causes poor growth and mental development, reduced immune competence leading to death of the children."

According to Division of Health Policy and Planning of United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Nepal is among the seven countries that are on track to achieve MDG goals regarding child mortality rate.

The under-five mortality rate is 91 per 1000 live births and infant mortality rate is 64 per 1,000 live births.

According to Nutrition section of CHD, 5.4 of 10 Nepali children below five years of age is suffering from Protein Energy Malnutrition, 7.8 of 10 suffer from anaemia, while, 3.2 of 10 children suffer from Vitamin A deficiency and 1.4 of 10 children are suffering from Iodine Deficiency Disorders.

Source: Xinhua