Kathmandu, Feb. 8 -- third of children under five in Surma Rural Municipality in Bajhang have been found suffering from malnutrition, a recent Smart+ survey shows. The survey also found that 11.4 percent of children in the district suffer from severe stunting, which is the highest rate among nine districts of the Sudurpaschim province.

Experts say the crisis is worsening due to poverty, migration of working-age adults, and political neglect.

"Adult males have gone to India for work, and there isn't sufficient food to eat at home," Shiva Lal Bohara, chief of the Health Section of the rural municipality, told the Post over the phone from Bajhang. "Not only small children, their mothers are also malnourished."

Malnutrition has remained a ...