KHALANGA BAZAAR, 22. september, 2011 (IRIN): Kønsdiskrimination ligger til grund for underernæring hos mange nepalesiske børn under fem år, vurderer både lokale og eksperter.
I Khalanga Bazaar, i Jumla distriktet i Nepals fjerntliggende “mid-west”-område, er der vidnesbyrd om, at der på trods af sæsonens rigelige mængder af bl.a. æbler og valnødder døde et 3-årigt barn af underernræing i sidste måned.
Det drejer sig hovedsageligt om pigebørn, der tænkes, af de lokale og deres skikke og traditioner, ikke at have brug for styrke.
According to the preliminary Nepal Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) released in August, 29 percent of children under five are malnourished, and the problem is chronic in remote parts of the Mid-Western Region. The most recent regional figures (in the NDHS 2006 report) show more than half of the children are chronically malnourished.
“Girls are neglected because they are thought not to need strength,” Indra Raj Panta, programme officer for Decentralized Action for Children and Women in Jumla, told IRIN.
Women live hard lives from day one, born with no fanfare, contrasting starkly to the six-day celebration to mark the birth of a boy. Walking along the road from one village to the next, women and girls bear the weight of baskets of apples, rocks or bags of rice, while men and boys tag alongside unburdened.
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Despite the physical demands of a woman’s daily life, boys and husbands eat first and are offered the most nutritious food, often leaving girls and women with leftovers.
