Rights group say Nepal children at risk of disease and death

Nepalese people sit near empty cooking gas cylinders lines as they wait for fresh supply in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Nov. 16. Nepal’s Prime Minister Khadga Prasad has asked neighboring India to lift an “undeclared blockade,” saying the Himalayan nation is facing a severe fuel shortage and trouble obtaining medicine and food supplies blocked at the border. AP

KATHMANDU, Nepal—Child rights groups are warning that shortages of fuel, medicine and other supplies in Nepal due to a border blockade with India is putting millions of children at the risk of disease and even death.

Sumnima Tuladhar of the Kathmandu-based CWIN Nepal said Tuesday that medical supplies are running low and some parents are not able to take their children to hospital for treatment because of the fuel shortages.

Tuladhar says it is becoming more difficult to get even basic medicines for children in rural areas and that the risk from chronic diseases was rising.

Members of the Madhesi ethnic community protesting Nepal’s new constitution have blocked the main southern border point with India, preventing fuel and other essential items from entering the country.