Health in Nepal
Health care services in Nepal are provided by both public and private sectors and are generally regarded as failing to meet international standards.
[1][2] Moreover, the country's topographical and sociological diversity results in periodic epidemics of infectious diseases, epizootics and natural hazards such as floods, forest fires, landslides, and earthquakes.
Health care services, hygiene, nutrition, and sanitation in Nepal are of inferior quality and fail to reach a large proportion of the population, particularly in rural areas.
The United Nation's 2009 human development report highlighted a growing social concern in Nepal in the form of individuals without citizenship being marginalized and denied access to government welfare benefits.
A contributing factor to deteriorating nutrition is high diarrhoeal disease morbidity, exacerbated by the lack of access to proper sanitation and the common practice of open defecation (44%) in Nepal.
[22] Source:[23] Periods of stagnant economic growth and political instability have contributed to acute food shortages and high rates of malnutrition, mostly affecting vulnerable women and children in the hills and mountains of the mid and far western regions.
A contributing factor to deteriorating nutrition is high diarrheal disease morbidity, exacerbated by the lack of access to proper sanitation and the common practice of open defecation (44%) in Nepal.
Nepal's rugged terrain and the lack of properly enabling infrastructure make it highly inaccessible, limiting the availability of basic health care in many rural mountain areas.
[38] So, the large number of epidemiological research is necessary to determine the incidence & prevalence of IHD in Nepal and to identify the magnitude of the problem so that timely primary and secondary prevention can be done.
[42] The incidence of disease in a community may be affected by many factors, including the density of population, the extent of overcrowding and the general standard of living and health care.
Certain groups like refugees, HIV infected, person with physical and psychological stress, nursing home residents and impoverished have high risk to develop TB.
Former Director of National Tuberculosis Center Dr. Kedar Narsingh KC stated that among an estimated 40,000 new TB patients every year, only around 25,000 visit health facilities.
In addition, the other factors include malnutrition, contaminated water and food sources, animal faeces, and person-to-person transmission due to poor hygienic conditions.
[56] In 2009, a large cholera outbreak occurred in Jajarkot and its neighboring districts affecting around thirty thousand people and over five hundred deaths, and it has been endemic for a long time in different parts of Nepal.
The programme focuses on 11 remote districts of Dhading, Mugu, sindupalchowk, Darchula, Bajura, Solukhumbu, Accham, Bajhang, Humla, Baitadi and Dhankuta.
It is also very common among people in the rural area to brush their teeth with the thin bamboo stick which is called "Datiwan" in the local language, sand and ash.
[81] Nepal has successfully improved coverage of effective interventions to prevent or treat the most important causes of child mortality through a variety of community-based and national campaign approaches.
[84] The National Nutrition Program under the Department of Health Services has set its ultimate goal as "all Nepali people living with adequate nutrition, food safety and food security for adequate physical, mental and social growth and equitable human capital development and survival" with the mission to improve the overall nutritional status of children, women of childbearing age, pregnant women, and all ages through the control of general malnutrition and the prevention and control of micronutrient deficiency disorders having a broader inter and intra sectoral collaboration and coordination, partnership among different stakeholders and high level of awareness and cooperation of population in general.
Childhood malnutrition and growth faltering affects more than half of children under five in developing countries, and usually starts during infancy, possibly due to improper breastfeeding and mixed feeding practices.
With the ongoing growth in the geriatric population and insufficient availability of healthcare services in a developing country like Nepal, ageing seems to be a challenging domain.
Among other psychiatric comorbidities, depression (36.7%) was found to be the most common mental illness followed by neurotic, stress related and somatoform disorders (13.8%) and Alcohol dependence syndrome (12.9%).
Major health problems of elderly living in government OAH were joint pain (73.5%), backache (60.7%), insomnia (39.3%), loss of appetite (36.8%), cough (50.4%), constipation (14.5%), tiredness (24.8%), stomach ache (33.3%) and allergy (18.8%).
Similarly, major health problems of elderly living in private OAH were joint pain (69.0%), backache (53.5%), insomnia (18.3%), loss of appetite (18.3%), cough (18.3%), constipation (5.6%), tiredness (4.2%), stomach ache (23.9%) and allergy (9.9%).
It calls for ensuring that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are met for every component of the society, at all ages, with a discreet focus on the most vulnerable population group, which includes the elderly.
But sadly, in the context of Nepal, specific and exact data related to geriatric population is lacking behind as this area is not emphasized as much as child and women health.
Looking at the data from the old age homes in terms of geriatric health, it is recommended that the government should formulate and regulate policies for elderly to live together with their family, with the provision of incentives and consequences respectively.
Due to the country's geography, bus accidents mostly happen in the hilly region and along the long-distance route causing 31 percent of fatalities and serious injuries every year.
[citation needed] Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.
The program has grown to include a network of 21 laboratories covering all five regions of the country, and it has now expanded to include eight pathogens of interest, namely Salmonella species, Shigella species, Vibrio cholerae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Haemophilus influenzae type b, extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
[125] Contributions (as premiums) collected from the family members as well as the tax funds provision-financed by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) are the major source of revenues for health insurance in Nepal.
