BAJURA, AUGUST 22

When Bhawana Bisht's two-month-old daughter was admitted to Bajura District Hospital earlier this year, the young mother clung to hope that her baby would recover. Doctors tried, but the little girl's life slipped away.

'We wanted to refer her to a bigger hospital,' said Dr. Prakash Budha. 'But the family had no money, and the baby's condition was already critical. They couldn't take her elsewhere.'

Bhawana's story is not unique. In Muktikot village of Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality-1, two more children, 6-month-old Santosh Nyaupane and 17-month-old Jamuna Bk, died of malnutrition. Last year alone, six children from the same settlement lost their lives to the same silent killer.

Today, 25 children in Muktikot are suffering from malnutrition, 11 of them severely. 'The problem is widespread,' said health worker Birja Bk. 'But official records show nothing.'

The numbers don't match the reality

The Bajura District Health Office's official data claims there were only 93 malnourished children under five in the fiscal year 2081/82 (2024–25), with no recorded deaths. Yet municipal records and the Nutrition Rehabilitation Center at Bajura Hospital list 287 children under treatment during the same period, and at least three deaths.

'This gap exists because local health facilities don't always report complete data, or entries are delayed,' admitted data officer Rugam Thapa.

A district in crisis

Across Bajura's nine municipalities, hundreds of children face the same fate as Bhawana's daughter. Budhinanda Municipality alone has 83 malnourished children, followed by 37 in Badimalika, 30 in Himali, and dozens more scattered across the hills.

'In almost every village, you will find children who are severely underweight, stunted, or wasting away,' said Deepak Shah, Senior Health Assistant at Budhiganga Municipality. 'The official figures are only the tip of the iceberg.'

Health workers point to a cycle of poverty, food insecurity, poor sanitation, lack of awareness, and limited access to healthcare. In Jagannath Rural Municipality, health officer Fulmaya Upadhyay explained: 'Pregnant mothers don't get enough nutritious food or care. Many families can't afford balanced meals, and some don't even use iodized salt.'

Community volunteer Ramita Nyaupane echoed the struggle: 'Most families can barely manage two meals a day. Some nights children go to bed hungry. Talking about nutrition is a luxury.'

The human toll

The impact is visible in the faces of children, thin limbs, swollen bellies, dull hair, and stunted growth. For families, the suffering cuts even deeper.

'It's heartbreaking,' said Luti Nepali of Sappata village in Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality. 'We don't have enough to eat ourselves. How can we feed our children what doctors say they need?'

A national goal under threat

Nepal's National Nutrition Policy aims to reduce child malnutrition to zero by 2025. But for the hills of Bajura, that goal feels impossibly far away.

'Geography, poverty, and systemic neglect mean children here are left behind,' said one health worker. 'Unless urgent interventions reach the most vulnerable villages, more young lives will be lost quietly, without even appearing in government records.'

For mothers like Bhawana, those statistics mean little. What remains is the grief of losing a child, grief shared by too many families in Bajura, where hunger continues to steal childhoods.