The Ministry has reportedly asked hospitals in Kathmandu, with more than 50 bed capacity, to postpone the OPD and surgery services until mid of April 2020.

While urging the public to avoid health checks that are not priority, the Ministry asked all hospitals to consider COVID-19 patients on priority.

The Ministry has also directed the National Public Health Laboratory to be prepared with at least 20,000 sample test kits and necessary arrangements to undertake sample tests as and when required.

It has also decided that the Department of Health Services will finalize a list of key essentials that would be need for scanning and detecting the disease.

In this regard, the Department might also reach out to the Chinese Embassy for assistance, if required.

One person belonging to the pathology department will be the point of contact for collecting sample swab of a suspected person, handing over the same to lab and further pass on the suspect information to the National Public Health Laboratory.

Bir Hospital, Dhulikhel Hospital and BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences were assigned the task of conducting COVID-19 sample tests on an immediately.

The Bir Hospital has already been tasked with the responsibility of sending dialysis equipment and required personnel to the Shukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital to treated the infected.

Moreover, hospitals with 100-bed capacity will be operating a fever clinic.

Meanwhile, the Home Ministry was urged to beef up security measures to avoid unexpected instances from the families of the suspect.

Stay tuned to Nepali Sansar for more updates about COVID-19 and other interested news updates!

More COVID News:

• Coronavirus in Nepal: Overview, Symptoms, Precautions and Live Updates
• Nepal Takes Drastic Measures to ‘Stop’ Coronavirus Spread
• COVID-19: 175 Nepali Evacuees Test ‘Negative’ for Coronavirus
• Coronavirus: Nepal Plans 4 Quarantine Locations
• Nepal on High Alert as WHO Declares Coronavirus as Global Emergency

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The Himalayan Nation was honored by the World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Region for its achievement in controlling the deadly Hepatitis disease.

Nepal’s Health Ministry was among the six countries’ health ministries to be honored for their public health achievements at the WHO’s 72^nd Session of the Regional Committee for South-East Asia at New Delhi, India.

“Unwavering determination to reach every child, everywhere, every time, with life-saving Hepatitis B vaccines through childhood immunization, has made this achievement possible. These successes are a testimony of the countries’ commitment to health of their people, and the untiring efforts being made by health workers and communities for the well-being of children,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia.

Nepal, among four countries, was reviewed based on childhood immunization data that showed that the country maintained 90 percent consistency in providing Hepatitis B vaccines during infancy for over many years.

The Expert Panel for Verification of Hepatitis B Control under the WHO South-East Asia Region then recommended that the above data be verified.

Studies conducted on five-year-old children in the four countries proved that Hepatitis B immunization rates were high and the disease’s prevalence was less than one percent.

Nepal’s Health Minister (also Deputy Prime Minister) Upendra Yadav received the WHO honor for Nepal. Besides Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Thailand became the first South Asian countries to control Hepatitis B.

Likewise, Sri Lanka received recognition for eliminating Measles and Maldives for eliminating mother-to-child HIV and Syphilis transmission.

The Maldives Health Minister Abdulla Ameen received the WHO honor for Maldives.

“Disease eliminations have always been high on our agenda. When I talk about sustain, accelerate and innovate, ‘accelerate’ is to step up efforts to eliminate diseases like the neglected tropical diseases,” said Dr.Khetrapal.

Hepatitis B in the South-East Asia Region – Statistics

• Viral Hepatitis kills 410,000 people in the WHO South-East Asia Region every year, mostly people in their productive years.
• Preventing Hepatitis B infection during the early years after birth substantially reduces chronic infections and chances of liver cancer and cirrhosis in adulthood.

Nearly 90 million people in the South-East Asia Region suffer from chronic liver disease that further drives liver cancer and cirrhosis rates.

• Under the National Immunization Program, children across 11 WHO South-East Asia Region countries, get three doses of Hepatitis B vaccines within the first year after birth.

Related Stories

• #WorldHepatitisDay2018: Test. Treat. Hepatitis

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Nepali Minister of Health and Population Upendra Yadav said the country made a notable progress in achieving its targeted goals related to child and maternal health under the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Minister made these statements at the Partners’ Forum 2018 organized by the Indian Ministry of Health in New Delhi on December 13, 2018.

“Nepal achieved the MDGs target in reducing child mortality, while it is nearly reaching the target on maternal mortality. Today, we continue to focus on the unfinished business of MDGs era,” reads the Minister’s statement.

On the occasion, the Minister said that forums of this kind helped Nepal a lot in achieving such goals.

“However, achieving the maternal and new born related SDGs targets with equity is a tremendous challenge for Nepal. In this noble endeavor, we have a lot of expectation from the partnership forum like this. For us, this is an opportunity to share experiences, learn from each other and galvanize the much-needed international support,” said Yadav.

The Minister went on to say that consistent efforts have been put to realize the constitutional provision of ensuring health care access as the fundamental right of every Nepali citizen.

“When it comes to child and maternal health, we have a robust Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Act. Maternal, new-born and child health services have been included in the basic health service package and have been provided through all levels of health facilities for free. This requires a partnership approach across all levels of government,” added Yadav.

He further informed that the country is looking forward for the ‘Health in All’ policy, which is being seen as an effective means to mobilize multi-sectoral action for health and to increase policy coherence.

“As part of the institutional set up of this holistic approach, we have constituted a multi-sectoral board under the Public Health Service Act. While the shift from MDGs to SDGs has allowed more opportunity for multi- sectoral approach, it also requires change in the mindset, innovative ways and governance not only at the government’s level, but also for civil society, the private sector and the research community,” said the Minister.

Yadav said the Nepal Government is committed to universal health coverage across the country.

“The ‘Aama Programme’, which provides incentive for safe delivery, the Social Health Insurance Programme and other free health care programmes are some examples of targeted interventions to address the financial barriers in accessing the health care for mothers and children,” stated the Minister.

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As the latest reports say, the number of TB patients is growing by 3,500 with each passing year, throwing an immense scenario for the district health authorities in tackling the menace.

As per the data, Darchula (185), followed by Achham (183), Dadeldhura (176), Baitadi (163), Bajhang (133), Doti (112) districts reported rise in TB patients in the last fiscal year.

The Sudurpaschim Health Directorate has some shocking revelations, which show:

• Around 3200-3500 cases are reported each year in the province
• Every 174 out of 100,000 people have been infected with TB in Kailali and Kanchanpur districts in the last fiscal year
• Women and Children are more prone

While this is the situation, TB and leprosy inspector Manoj Ojha say that they are unable to control the disease, despite strict measures.

“Patients also suffer a relapse. This is the major challenge facing us in containing the disease,” says Ojha, adding that they couldn’t cure around 90 percent of the affected population.

As the reports say, public in Godawari, Basauti, Tikapur and Masuriya are among the most vulnerable to the disease spread.

Government has been offering free treatment and medicinal facilities to the affected urging them to take treatment under the direct supervision of health workers.

Currently, there are 54 TB treatment centres in seven hilly regions and 50 centres of the Kailali and Kanchanpur districts.

 “A majority of patients complain that they are unable to take medicines regularly as they have to go to the health facilities for that,” says Khemraj Joshi, a person at Seti Zonal Hospital.

Read More:

• World Polio Day 2018: Nepal, A Polio-free Nation!
• World Mental Health Day 2018: 2.2 Million Nepalis Suffer Mental Health Issues

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The World Health Organization (WHO) validated this in its recent announcement calling this as a milestone achievement for the country. Nepal “becomes the first in WHO’s South-East Asia Region to defeat the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness”.

WHO South-East Asia Regional Director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh and WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva, Switzerland handed over an acknowledgment letter of validation to the Nepali Minister of State for Health and Population Padma Kumari Aryal as part of the World Health Assembly.

Applause for Governance

Officials had a round of applause on Nepal for this ground-breaking achievement of dealing out with the disease of concern.

The Government of Nepal involving the Minister of State for Health and Population, the Ministry of Water Supply and Sanitation and the Ministry of Education, supported by the strong commitment of local health workers and volunteers drew deserved focus for their efforts on this achievement.

Nepal’s Years of Efforts: An Example of Public-Govt Commitment

Nepal has really come a long way for finally dealing out with the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness. The struggle dates back to the 1980s when Trachoma was the second leading cause of preventable blindness in Nepal.

Stepping up the efforts, the Government of Nepal took a serious initiative in 2002 by establishing the national trachoma program for the complete elimination of the disease. As part of this effort supported by sustained control activities, the country could see the prevalence of active (inflammatory) trachoma fall by 40 percent during 2002-05.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education also proved its significant role in taking the program to the next level by spreading awareness across the nation while also proposing the inclusion of a module on trachoma in the school curriculum.

As part of control activities, the Ministry of Water Supply and Sanitation played crucial by supporting the local communities and districts with the necessary incentives required for building basic infrastructure facilities that improve sanitation and control disease-carrying flies.

The mission to fight trachoma also involved activities across the country.

• Nearly 30 000 operations were conducted to manage trichiasis
• More than 15 million doses of azithromycin were distributed with the help of NNJS supported by the United States Agency for International Development-funded ENVISION project implemented by RTI International under the International Trachoma Initiative
• Overall, the country saw the establishment of eye hospitals and dozens of eye centers and clinics with trained staff between 2002 and 2014

As a result, a series of health surveys conducted progressively during 2005-15 proved the falling rate of active trachoma in children below the elimination prevalence threshold. Low prevalence after the discontinuity of mass antibiotic treatment was also observed.

Global Efforts

The efforts to fight trachoma took a serious turn in 1998 when the World Health Assembly resolved to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem globally.

Since then, the world nations began striving for significant progress in this path and an increasing number of endemic countries eventu

ally started meeting targets for national elimination of trachoma as a public health problem.

WHO has been in the forefront in taking ahead the initiative on a global scale. As part of its efforts, WHO launched the WHO Alliance for the Global Elimination of Trachoma by 2020 (GET 2020).

Under this initiative, WHO stepped up efforts to support country-wise implementation of the SAFE (Surgery for trichiasis, Antibiotics to clear infection, Facial cleanliness and Environmental improvement to limit transmission) strategy and strengthening of national capacity through epidemiological assessment, monitoring, surveillance, project evaluation and resource mobilization.

Significant Events in Nepal’s Fight Against Trachoma from 1978 to 2018

Source: WHO South-East Asia

In 2014, Dr. Khetrapal Singh identified the elimination of neglected tropical diseases as one of the flagship priority programmes across the globe. As a result, the countries in the region including Nepal continued their concerted efforts and Nepal eventually emerged as the first one in the region to fully eliminate the disease nationwide.

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Marking importance of the Week, the World Health Organization (WHO) has released a report titled-Tracking Progress for Breastfeeding Policies and Programmes: Global breastfeeding scorecard 2017, wherein, it revealed some alarming facts on the status of breastfeeding practice across the world.

“The overall rate of exclusive breastfeeding for infants under six months of age is 40 percent. Only 23 countries have achieved at least 60 percent of infants less than six months being exclusively breastfed. This problem is particularly seen in the Americas, where only six percent of the countries have an exclusive breastfeeding rate above 60 percent. The collective has established a target to increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding to at least 60 percent by 2030,” says the report.

Nepal is Serious About Breastfeeding, Says WHO

Interestingly, WHO called Nepal as one country that has taken on seriously the challenges of protecting breastfeeding on a national scale.

“Nepal is spending USD 2.9 million of funding from external donors on breastfeeding support, which translates to just over USD 5 per birth. 66 percent of infants under six months of age are exclusively breastfed and at two years, 89% are still breastfeeding,” the report said.

According to UNICEF, all primary health care facilities in Nepal provide individual counseling on infant and young child feeding, while also lauding Nepali districts for implementing community-based nutrition, health or other programs under IYCF counseling.

Breastmilk Substitutes, A Major Concern in Nepal

On the other side, the rampant usage of Breastmilk Substitutes (BMS) is still a concern in Nepal despite the existence of the Mother’s Milk Substitutes (control of sale and distribution) Act.

According to Atul Upadhyay, Senior Project Manager at Helen Keller International Nepal, Nepal has been facing challenges with BMS products and mostly the working women use mother’s milk substitutes.

Use of BMS products adversely affects the Nepal economy, says Raj Kumar Pokharel, Chief of Nutrition Section, Child Health Division, Nepal.

The World Breastfeeding Week, which falls in the first week of August (1-7) every year, is an initiative put forth by a group of policy makers at a WHO/UNICEF meeting, to promote breastfeeding across the world. The initiative is aimed at achieving Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding programme put forth by the WHO and UNICEF in 2002.

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