Food safety, policies and medical sector are interrelated. Today there are more than 16,432 doctors in Nepal, and most of them are male. One doctor has to look after 1,724 people on average. The Kathmandu Valley has one doctor for every 850 people, but in the rural areas, there is only one doctor for every 150,000 people
On June 7, Nepal celebrated World Food Safety Day, which was coordinated by the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. The Right to Food and Food Sovereignty Act, passed in 2018, declares the right of all Nepali people to be free from hunger and to be able to access sufficient nutritious food all year round.
The Local Government Operation Act (LGOA) 2017 mandates the local governments to formulate, implement, monitor, evaluate and regulate policy, legislation, standards and norms also on food and nutrition security. The National Planning Commission (NPC) is charged with coordinating the food security and nutrition policy nationwide.
The government has focussed on adequate food and nutrition for children and pregnant women as this is a major problem among the people residing in the rural areas of the country and a leading cause of their malnutrition and deaths. Adequate nutrition is a fundamental right of every human being, and the government along with its partner organisations is committed to fulfilling this fundamental right.
The major types of malnutrition faced by the people of Nepal can be categorised as protein-energy malnutrition, iodine deficiency disorders, iron deficiency anemia and Vitamin A deficiency. Nepal has been working towards securing adequate food and nutrition for its people, and several policies have been formulated and implemented till date. In 1998, the Iodised Salt Act was formulated and implemented in Nepal. Iodised salt was distributed in all the remote areas of the country by building iodised salt warehouses.
The iron/folate tablets distribution programme is being operated all across the country. The Breast Milk Substitute Act 1992 has been implemented along with mass distribution of Vitamin A capsules to all the children. Biannual de-worming of children aged 1-5 years during the Vitamin A supplementation programme has also been implemented. Nepal government has banned the advertisement of tobacco and alcohol-related products and focused on mass education and awareness about food safety and public health.
There are several organisations working in Nepal towards food safety, policy making, food health, food trading support, disease control, and monitoring the agricultural sector during times of floods, landslides, earthquakes and pandemics. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is supporting the government in an integrated approach to address its immediate priorities through capacity building, institutional improvement, food security-related issues, agriculture and rural development.
Recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, FAO helped to address urgent humanitarian needs arising from the secondary impacts of the pandemic and renewed lockdown measures, leading to food insecurity, malnutrition, gaps in protection, livelihood needs and education needs. Similarly there are several other NGOs and IN- GOs working towards achieving food security and health in Nepal.
About 43 per cent of Nepal is covered by forests and 24 per cent (3.56 million hectares) is agricultural land, but over half of all farmers cultivate on less than a hectare of land. Twothirds of the population of Nepal is engaged in agriculture, contributing to 26 per cent of national GDP.
Due to its flat lands, rivers and fertile soil, most of the country's farming takes place in the Tarai area, though each of Nepal's ecological belts has its more favoured crops and crop calendars.
Rice, wheat and maize are vital cereal crops for attaining food security in Nepal.
Despite efforts to increase access to irrigation and fertiliser, Nepal has not been able to meet the demand for rice in the country: there was a predicted deficit of 750,000 tons of only rice in 2019, a trend that is projected to continue through 2030. In total, 64 per cent of all agricultural land is irrigable, of which majority of all irrigable land lies in Province 2. Negligible exports and rapidly growing imports have driven a trade deficit in agricultural goods, which has worsened since 2011.
Food safety, policies and medical sector are interrelated and dependent. Today there are more than 16,432 doctors in Nepal, and most of them are male (67%). One doctor has to look after 1,724 people on average. The Kathmandu Valley has one doctor for every 850 people, but in the rural areas, there is only one doctor for every 150,000 people. The doctor-population density in Kathmandu is estimated to be about 40 times higher than in rural Nepal.
In a similar manner, access time to the nearest health facility varies across the provinces in Nepal.
About 69 per cent of households take less than 30 minutes to travel to the nearest health centre in Province 2, whereas only 25 per cent of households travel within the same amount of time to health centers in Karnali Province.
This clearly tells us the need of more trained medical professionals inside the country.
Nepal is expected to graduate from a least developed country to developing country soon, and the health status, life expectancy and food security are also increasing. Hundreds of programmes and projects have been launched to ensure the dietary and nutritional safety of the people. Special rules and regulations have been implemented for street foods and drinks.
Food inspectors and observers are busy visiting restaurants, hotels, cafes and food markets to create more awareness and provide safety guidelines and report to the concerned authorities in case of fallacies and adulteration. There is a need to educate and organise awareness programmes for the stakeholders by the local and provincial governments.
Dr Koirala is observer for Nepal, International Association of Dietary Nutrition and Safety (IADNS), Spain
A version of this article appears in the print on July 5, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
