by South Asia is still facing poverty, nutritional uncertainty, malnutrition and non -transferable diseases in connection with nutrition. In the entire region, progress is uneven in reducing malnutrition. The guidelines in connection with nutritionally sensitive agriculture and health are largely visible on the surface, but their implementation at the community level is not sufficient and effective.
The limited availability, accessibility and affordability of nutrient foods have a profound effects on the nutritional patterns of the local population and their nutritional results. Therefore, we need a multi-sector approach to ensure that all children, young girls and women in the region use the nutritious food, services and healthy foods that you need to survive and thrive.
Due to climate change and environmental deterioration, we continue to observe the high -climate sensitivity, air pollution and irregular precipitation patterns in the region. As a result, there is a significant loss of nutritional diversity, poor agricultural income and nutritional uncertainty. The livelihood of the majority of the poor, socially excluded, ethnic and indigenous communities are more susceptible to poor health and nutrition.
There are several nutritional surveys and quick ratings in understanding the health and nutritional status of communities in a certain geographical and socio-cultural context, but there is still no anthropological evidence of how nutrition in families and communities is socio-cultural. The broader economic, political, historical and psychological aspects of nutrition and nutritional security are rarely examined and discussed in the social world of nutrition.
With the support of measures against hunger, an international NGO that worked in the field of humanitarian health and nutrition, including an anthropological assessment of nutrition in selected communities Siraha, Makwanpur and Jumla. Our research team trained in anthropology worked in field research to examine how nutrition is shaped by social, cultural, economic, political and historical factors.
It is even more important that the researchers wanted to understand and document local perceptions, social systems, cultural norms and meanings of nutrition in their everyday life. In addition, one of the anthropological studies was to examine how social hierarchies, marginalization, local politics and power structures influence the authority of people in access to health and nutritional services in the communities.
In my team, Yojan Basnet and Kabita Chaudhary were the two young anthropologists who visited some of the rural and peri-city areas of Siraha for ethnographic field research, the observations, incoming interviews, important informant interviews, case studies and participatory social and/or resource card. In the first week of August last year, the field research team visited the rural community of Sakhuwanankarkatti in Siraha. In rural areas we had informal interactions with socially excluded communities such as Musahar, Chamar, Dalits and other ethnic minorities.
In addition to socio -cultural and demographic contexts, the nutritional status of the communities is strongly influenced by political and institutional drivers as well as economic and market systems. Understanding the malnutrition not only requires biomedical models, but also for the subjective experiences of people who have been sick for years or suffer from malnutrition.
The stories about illness and malnutrition are not only reports on personal experiences, but also reflect cultural values and beliefs about health and healing. Despite the growing modernity and urbanization, the locals rely on their local food products, indigenous knowledge, agricultural systems and cultural nutritional practices.
Nutrition guidelines and strategic interventions are poorly implemented in many communities. In our conversations with mothers from socially excluded groups, you have no idea where you receive health and nutritional services. You also have no idea about nutrition plans with several sectors and other nutritional sensations that have been using local governments for years.
“This clearly shows that our health and nutritional policy lacks effective implementation at the local level. Obviously, the poor and socially marginalized communities are usually left behind. The relationships between local government officials and the excluded people at the base are not always encouraging and trustworthy, ”commented a social worker in the community. There is no clear communication from the local government’s offices and therefore a lack of transparency and trust in the way available resources in favor of marginalized groups are assigned and used.
A Musahar woman in the 20s with a malnourished daughter announced her frustration: “We usually do not visit the health facilities for nutritional services because we are not sure whether we receive full treatment and medication.” This implies that people still have no detailed information about the availability and accessibility of health and nutritional services in the communities.
She added: “Like my neighbors, I have no land to cultivate plants and vegetables. My husband is in foreign employment. I work on the farms of others for a living. At the same time, I also have to take care of my children and parents. This is an overwhelming responsibility and a challenging experience in my life. But what to do? ”
However, health service providers in the local health facilities argue that some municipalities from rural areas still do not come here, although we have provisions for health and nutritional services. Perhaps some of the poor families cannot afford transport costs and medication if they have to buy them on the outside. The family support system is also weak in the marginalized communities.
“Health institutions are often out of the increasing pressure to provide high -quality nutritional services. Due to inadequate human resources and limited care, the Outreach clinics in the remote areas cannot be expanded. As a result, we cannot ensure in good time that the malnutrition in rural areas determines the treatment of malnutrition and proof of the treatment of malnutrition, ”said a health staff in the community. In addition, there are no specific social protection services and safety networks for poor and in need of protection that suffer from malnutrition.
On the other hand, the mobilization of volunteers of female community health (FCHVS) and other community institutions is unfortunately inadequate. A chosen representative of the municipality announced: “Due to the low health awareness, the poor socio-economic status, the limited water and sanitary facilities and the inability to access the health facilities in local health facilities, we have to address mothers and children especially for their immediate health needs.” But it is easier said than done.
Ethnographic field research has thus examined how knowledge about nutrition in and between cultures is formulated differently, expressed and distributed. The intercultural differences in nutritional counts are profound for the diversity of nutrition. There is also a greater need to research the social structure, the customs and kinship systems that shape food and nutritional behavior in the communities.
It is even more important that anthropological knowledge about the challenge of inequality and social injustice is of crucial importance, since the interaction between gender roles, cultural norms, economics and language has profound effects on the safety of food and nutrition. The power of culture in the design of food and nutritional behavior is deeply visible. In fact, communicate, immortalize and develop people about nutrition from their indigenous food systems, the identities of the community and their social relationships.
(Bhandari is an analyst for health policy and has an interest in anthropology.)
