Sajama Nepali
International Development Enterprise, Nepal
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Pediatr Ther
Stunting has declined at national level; however the prevalence of stunting in Province 2 is unequal when disaggregated into economic subgroups. According to Nepal Multidimensional Poverty Index 2018, more than 2.5 million people are multidimensionally poor in Province 2, which are 1 million more people than other provinces. Data from Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys from 2001 to 2016 were used for this study. The study population was children under five years. The percentage of stunted children in the poorest quintile was more than twice the percentage of stunted children in the richest quintile except for the year 2016. Additionally, the percentage of stunted children in the poorest quintile had significantly decreased by 15.6 percent from 2001 to 2006; however, it increased by one percent in an average every year 2006 onwards. Province 2 had the highest percentage (33%) of households without water, soap or other cleaning agent at hand washing facility and held the second highest position in prevalence of diarrhoea. Given the associations between stunting and sanitation in previous studies, these high percentages indicate that, government and non-government organizations and their programs have excluded poor people in Province 2 and is one of the main reasons behind increased inequality in stunting. Therefore, nutritional interventions should address the feeding behaviour of vulnerable groups such as infants, children, adolescent girls, and pregnant and lactating mothers among the poorer and poorest and should be in reach with these groups.
Sajama Nepali graduated in public health nutrition November 2017 from LJMU. She also owns a masters degree in food and nutrition from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. She has gained various local and managerial level experiences in public health and research in Nepal. Alongside, she has done internship in Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, as a part of LJMU’s overseas project and was also selected for internship in LJMU. She is looking forward to work for reducing health inequalities in the society, trying to narrow the gap between vulnerable and healthy people, first through research and then finding suitable interventions.
E-mail: sajama.nepali@gmail.com
