Health: Bonita Sharma

"I am a believer that young people have the power to solve the biggest problem we are facing in the world. However, we are always considered mere beneficiaries and our potential as active partners for development is not valued. In Nepal, almost 50% of children below five die due to causes associated with malnutrition. As a Public Health activist, a Youth and a responsible citizen of this country, I feel it is very unfair that women, children and girls are dying everyday due to preventable health problems.

Youth like us are changemakers of present and we are capable of solving this issue through collective effort. So this passion and belief of mine motivated me to work in the public health sector and establish Social Changemakers and Innovators (SOCHAI) which is a youth led non profit. SOCHAI is working towards improving overall health and breaking the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition through innovation, education and entrepreneurship."

Bonita Sharma is the founder of SOCHAI and is currently using Nutribeads and similar concepts to promote women's health and infant nutrition across rural Nepal. She is the winner of the Lead 2030 Challenge for the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of ‘Zero Hunger’ initiated by One Young World. Bonita is also one of the BBC's 100 Women for 2019. As a Female Champion, she has empowered girls and women in Nepal through her projects on nutrition education.