The assistance approved for the Sunaula Hazar Din project (that is golden 1,000 days project) will target risk factors that lead to under nutrition in children in the first two years of their lives, the WB said in a statement. [break]
“If not addressed during the first few years of life, under nourishment can cause permanent disability in children, loss of height during adolescence, poor grades in school, increase in school drop-outs and reduction in life-time earnings,” the statement quoted Albertus Voetberg, WB Task Team Leader for the project, as saying.
Records show nearly two in every five Nepali children under the age of five are stunted with nearly a third underweight. Clearly, such high rates of under nutrition require urgent and coordinated action by multiple institutions to attack this silent killer, said Tahseen Sayed, the World Bank Country Manager for Nepal.
The golden 1000 days project is one of the first World Bank assisted multi-sector nutrition projects in the South Asia region and will engage a wide range of actors in the areas of health, poverty reduction, social protection, water and sanitation, agriculture, local development and education, among others.
According to the statement, the project was designed considering the fact that the first 1,000 days from the first day of pregnancy through the first two years of life holds key for improving nutrition. If damage occurred due to inadequate nutrition during this period, its impacts remain extensive and largely irreversible.
“Hence, this project will focus to accelerate the reduction of maternal and child under-nutrition, as measured by anemia among pregnant women, low birth rate and young child stunting,” reads the statement.
Over the past one decade, Nepal has made good progress in human development indicators such as school enrolments, gender parity in school participation, immunization coverage, infant and under five mortality rates, and fertility rates. However, when it comes to nutrition, all the countries in the region, including Nepal, have fallen behind.
Financing for the Sunaula Hazar Din project would be made available to Nepal from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group.
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