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Many women and their children in Bajura district are diagnosed with malnutrition. Khando Budthapa’s 2.5-year-old daughter Samjhana is malnourished; she does not look or weigh as much as a 2.5-year-old should. The locals from Budhinanda municipality in the Bajura district of Sudurpaschim say she was malnourished from her birth. When she was two months, she had to be taken to Kathmandu for treatment. The family, however, did not have enough money to treat her fully. As a result, she remains malnourished to this day. Khando herself is malnourished throughout her life, which is evidence of the perpetuated malnutrition in rural Nepal. She is 40 years old and so far has given birth eight times. Two died as infants. “They died because I couldn’t feed them. I couldn’t produce milk to breastfeed them as I didn’t eat enough healthy food when I was pregnant with them,” she says. “We eat rice and salt, which wasn’t available at the time. I’ve slept on an empty stomach many times.” None of ...