The relevant cause behind the problems are poverty, over population, unemployment, more than two children in a family, negligence of girl children, illiteracy, lack of awareness, dowry, early marriage, flood, cyclone/ disaster, a vicious circle of malnutrition etc. On the other hand, we could not adopt any sustainable initiatives to prevent population growth, to ensure food security, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.

Even today, in this 21st century most of our girls and adolescents are being forced to marry at a very early age. As a result they have to stop education, give birth to low birth weight children. Most of the girl children have little say in the timing of marriage or choice of their spouse. After marriage they get very limited power within their new households.

By preventing malnutrition of girl children, we can get healthy girls to ensure safe motherhood, planned family with one child or two children, increased rate of school enrollment. These are the preconditions for building a healthy and wealthy nation with the opportunity to practice all types of human rights of girls/women, for their taking part in decision making and being educated and empowered.

Helen Keller International (HKI)-Bangladesh, described in its survey report (1999) on iron deficiency that approximately 52.7 percent of Bangladeshi children between 6-59 months are anaemic (haemoglobin levels below 11.0 g/ dl).Ê Children are more likely to be anaemic if their mothers suffer from anaemia. Childhood anaemia is also related to the diet and to the mother's propensity to purchase special foods for the household.

HKI added that Bangladesh is a disaster prone country and households are plagued by natural disasters as well as crises related to illness, employment opportunities and social obligations. These crises force households to sell assets, sell advance labour, and/ or take loans at extremely high interest rates in order to survive. This is why the cyclic pattern of poverty in Bangladesh is associated with poor nutritional outcomes, such as vitamin A deficiency among children. The Iodine Deficiency Disorder (IDD) survey undertaken in Bangladesh in 1993 revealed that 68.9 percent are victims of Iodine deficiency.

If we invest in nutrition for our girl children, we will be benefited a lot. Such as, iodine fortification and salt iodisation programmes benefit 8 percent in child mortality reduction. By eliminating Vitamin A deficiency, we can reduce 16 percent of the burden of disease in children. By eliminating iron deficiency and severe anemia, we can be able to reduce 13 percent of maternal disease burden. Daily zinc supplementation helps to reduce 70 percent of infant mortality. By eliminating micronutrient malnutrition in children and anemia in reproductive age women, it is possible to save 18 percent of the burden of disease and 15 percent of children's underweight. Low birth weight is the best single predictor of malnutrition. Low birth weight leads to increased obesity and noncommunicable disease morbidity.

Where population is living in poverty, multiple micronutrrtient deficiencies coexist. Woman's status impacts on the nutritional status of her child. Micronutrient deficiencies are responsible for economic costs at individual, community and national levels. Integrated approach is required to prevent malnutrition. To achieve sustainable improvement of the nutritional status of girl children, women's status should be improved. Women's health must also be improved for their own sake so that they are able to lead a productive, healthy life and play a vital role everywhere.

Undernourished mothers are likely to give birth to premature or underweight children who become stunted by age three. These children experience developmental delays and mental impairment. They suffer from chronic susceptibility to infections in infancy and metabolic disorders such as diabetes and heart disease in midlife. Nutritional deficiencies can be prevented by promoting breastfeeding, iodizing salt, fortifying staple foods with Vitamin A, and providing semi annual dosage of Vitamin A, Iron and Zinc etc.

Special attention should be given to the girl child, whose physical growth, mental development and level of education determine the quality of next generation's children. Discrimination against girls limits their access to adequate nutrition and health care. So, the small child eventually becomes a small mother, whose risk of dying in first pregnancy is 10 times greater than a woman of normal height and weight. The same order of risk applies to premature and small (less than 2,500 grams) babies in the first year of life.

Concerted efforts are necessary to protect the health of girl child through recognising the fact that the potential of the child is related directly to the educational and social status of the mother. Women's educational achievement and social status are the main determinants of children's nutrition.

When family planning and reproductive health services respond to the needs of educating women, fertility declines further in response to changing perceptions of ideal family size. Mainstreaming gender concerns in social development programmes is essential for success. Girl children are particularly vulnerable to certain human rights violations and therefore require additional protections.

Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action mentioned that national and international mechanisms and initiatives should be strengthened for the defence and protection of children, in particular the girl child, abandoned children, street children, economically and socially exploited children, refugee and displaced children.

Beijing Declaration emphasised to ensure human rights of girl child as an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. So, let us keep in mind that among other rights, nutrition for girl child is her constitutional human right too. Under these logical and humanitarian grounds, this is the very important time for our government, donor agencies, NGOs, civil society and the scrupulous people of the country to work actively as well as to invest in nutrition for the girl child.

Parvez Babul is a freelance writer.