Maternal and Child Health

Skyrocketing poverty means that women are increasingly malnourished and weak during their pregnancies.

As World Health Day focuses global attention on the right to health, the ICRC’s report serves as a reminder that in Afghanistan this right remains fragile.

In response to the survey’s release, advocates are pushing for enhanced government action. While Nepal has ratified international conventions like the Convention on the Rights of the Child, implementation lags. Proposed measures include strengthening school retention programmes, providing scholarships for girls from poor families, and enforcing anti-child marriage laws more rigorously.

Humanitarian assistance has declined sharply amid global funding shortfalls, leaving millions more exposed.

Public health experts caution that while C-sections remain a life-saving intervention when medically necessary, their overuse undermines maternal and neonatal health outcomes.

Nepal faces international obligations under the Sustainable Development Goals to reduce stunting to 15 per cent, wasting to four per cent, and underweight rates to 10 per cent by 2030 – targets that appear increasingly challenging, particularly in remote and underserved regions like Sudurpaschim.

Health minister Sudha Gautam, a senior gynaecologist herself, is positioned to drive change. Experts urge her to prioritise regulation, monitoring, and awareness campaigns.

The holding centres often lack necessities like water and sanitation, and the people held there are lucky if they even receive two meals a day, as food stocks are often too low to supply enough meals. The need for blankets and winter kits is increasing.