Karnali’s notoriety in postpartum care: Why dozens of new mothers die in remote Nepal every year

On July 2, 2021, Hastana Rokaya from Thantikandh rural municipality in Dailekh of the Karnali province gave birth to her third child before she turned 27. After constant nagging from her in-laws and husband, Rokaya, already a mother of two girls, decided to try again hoping that her newborn would be a boy. But, to her and her family’s shock, she gave birth to another girl. Like her first two times, she was sent to an impoverished shed nearby with her newborn daughter.

“This is a tradition in Karnali,” says a health post official. “I don’t know if she even got to eat properly there let alone have enough care.”