Malnutrition cases rising among children in Badakhshan

Officials in Badakhshan’s main hospital say that cases of malnutrition among children in the remote northeastern province have increased.

According to them, in the past month, they have hospitalized more than a hundred children suffering from malnutrition, and cases are on the rise.

“We admit severe acute malnutrition, which is accompanied by a disorder. We have 12 beds that can accommodate about 24 or 30 patients per month. Every malnourished patient stays for more than two weeks until he is cured and treated,” Mohammad Akbar, the head of the children’s treatment department of Badakhshan provincial hospital, says.

Some mothers whose children are malnourished say that their children are malnourished due to poverty and hunger.

“We don’t get to eat meat in week, we don’t eat fruit either. We see them in pictures, but we cannot eat. If there were no aid materials, it would not be possible to give birth to a child or live,” Mursel, the mother of a malnourished child, says.

Meanwhile, medics say the lack of healthy food and the increase in seasonal diseases are the main causes of children suffering from malnutrition.

“One of the reasons is diarrhea in the summer season and in the winter season it is pneumonia which is not properly treated,” Gholam Rabbani Mushtaq says.