Children’s health campaign kicks off despite nationwide strike

Despite the ongoing violence in Nepal the latest stage in the country’s programme to protect children’s health has got off to a good start, health workers said. “I’m not surprised to say that our mission was a success today,” said 36-year-old Female Health Care Volunteer (FCHV) Bimala Budathoki, as she administered vitamin A and deworming tablets to 15-month old Dolkar Lama in the tiny village of Manamaiju, 10 km east of the capital city of Kathmandu. Like Lama, around 3.7 million under-fives will receive the vitamin tablets all around the country from the cities and towns to the remotest of villages in the two-day nationwide vitamin A supplement campaign which started on Wednesday. Another 3.3 million children will also receive deworming tablets, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), one of key agencies supporting the government in the children’s health programme. Like UNICEF had hoped, the campaign has started successfully around the country on the first day. “There were no problems at all to get medicines across the country and, like every year, we felt encouraged to know that the programme ran well despite the political crisis,” said Krishna Acharya from Nepal Technical Assistance Group (NTAG), another key agency supporting the government’s national child-health campaign. For the last 10 years, there have been frequent strikes and road blockades called by both the Maoist insurgents and the seven main opposition parties. In addition, the state has also imposed curfews in most of the towns and villages on a regular basis. However, according to the Ministry of Health, the vitamin and deworming tablets have always reached their destination even in the most difficult mountain districts of the country. “Even today, despite the tense political climate, every mother has been able to reach the health centre to get the tablets for her children,” explained Bhimsen Rana from the government’s Public Health Office. Since 5 April, the country has come to a standstill due to the indefinite nationwide strike and protest rallies organised by the seven main political parties to oust King Gyanendra from power and restore full democracy. Since 1 February, 2005, the Nepalese king has been ruling the country directly after suspending the democratic government. Over the past two weeks, nearly 2.5 million people from a wide cross-section of Nepalese society have joined the demonstrations. So far, 2,500 peaceful demonstrators had been arrested, over 1,000 injured and six killed during their clashes with the security forces, who have orders from the government to prevent anti-king rallies by any means, according to local human rights group Insec. “Children should always come first but I will rejoin the demonstration later in the afternoon,” said 24-year-old mother Sita Lama, as she rushed back home to leave her child and head towards the street to join other demonstrators.