Bring healthcare to thousands in rural Nepal

9^th February 2018

 Namaste Friends,

Since the 2015 earthquake, while large international NGOs have dominated relief funds, the government is eager for Nepali-led models of local and regional success. In our decades of local meetings, the communities articulate their most pressing needs and HHC identifies which projects it can undertake. HHC is a highly effective Nepali-led organization that is a long-trusted partner of the government, community members and other NGOs, as we work to improve quality of life in rural Nepal and achieve sustainable development goals. With our extensive relationships and strong social capital accumulated over 25 years, at this moment we have a unique opportunity to respond to urgent needs and ongoing earthquake recovery while advancing health care in northern Dhading for many years to come. 

Our programs in 2018 will continue to serve the remote mountainous villages of the northern Dhading District, including Tipling, Sertung, Lapa, Jharlang and Ree (map) and the larger area of over 60,000 people covered by the Dhading District Hospital. This area was devastated by the impact of the 2015 earthquake and recovery is a slow and ongoing process.  HHC has been active in this isolated region for 25 years, where the lack of roads, extreme poverty and the legacy of Nepal’s caste system combine to limit access and opportunity. In these remote areas of the Dhading district, very little government and other support exists. The first cellphone connection in the region was recently established by Nepal Telecom in partnership with the local community and HHC. 

HHC handed over two more completed health posts in Jharlang and Ree villages in December 2017 to the local community, with the District Health Officer and local leaders in attendance. The eight health posts that HHC repaired and now seeks to furnish are in the following communities: Tipling, Lapa, Jharlang, Ree, Salang, Pida, Chhatre Deurali and Bhumesthan.

The Dhading Distrist health posts were reconstructed as part of collaboration between HHC and AmeriCares Inc. Foundation following the 2015 earthquake that devastated the region. 50,000 patients will be directly served by these eight health posts annually for years to come.

Since inception, HHC has coordinated health programs focused on safe motherhood, vaccines, family planning, birth control, national tuberculosis program support and nutrition. Early in our work, HHC introduced midwife services to safeguard women from the hazards of poorly managed pregnancies and births. HHC has provided fetal Doppler monitors to health posts for midwives’ use and has trained seven Auxiliary Nurse Midwives. These efforts have dramatically reduced maternal mortality.  HHC is still seeking funds to support more training of women in the region.

Since 1992, 4,000+ women have participated in our health and empowerment trainings. In the villages where we work, HHC reduced the under-five child mortality rate by focusing on treatable illnesses, and we have installed 500+ permanent toilets. Based on our decades of work, in 2017 the District Health Office proclaimed these villages to be open-defecation-free zones. After the 2015 earthquake, HHC emergency relief and recovery services helped more than 350,000 people. HHC also operates the Dr. Megh Bhadur Parajuli Community Hospital which we opened in 2004 in Ilam, Nepal and will soon be handed over as agreed. This hospital serves a region of 300,000 residents with 24-hour medical care, including basic surgery and radiology. 

In the remote mountainous villages where HHC works, Tamang and Dalit community members live in extreme poverty, suffering long-term marginalization (due to the legacy of Nepal’s caste system) and lack access to basic health care due to neglect and their geographical isolation. All of this has been severely exacerbated by the devastation of the 2015 earthquake. In Nepal’s struggle to recover, this geographically challenging region is the most deprived and the last to receive government support. Many Dhading earthquake victims remain homeless, living in camps and makeshift shelters. Smoke-filled kitchens and lack of toilet access exacerbate public health risks. Community members urgently need health care services and referrals. Chronic poverty is worsened by medical expenses and disaster recovery costs.  HHC medical camps save lives and benefit hundreds of patients.  There is a pressing need for eye camps; blindness in these physically challenging farm villages severely impedes one’s basic functioning and can contribute to premature death.

To address the health issues Himalayan HealthCare (HHC) continues to train local health providers through the medical camp. HHC announced the spring and fall 2018 medical treks in the northern Dhading region close to the Tibetan boarder and in a new region of Nepal, respectively. A HHC team will scout a new area in the next month.

HHC will organize and deliver these medical camps that will provide direct services for 1,200-1,500 patients and save 30-40 lives through timely intervention, while indirectly saving hundreds more. These five-day camps will be delivered as part of a 12-day trek that includes teams of international medical professionals. Doctors from the U.S. and elsewhere join HHC’s Nepali medical team and work with local providers (nurses and midwives) to provide medical care along with on-the-job-training. The camps are delivered with the District Health Offices. Services include treating conditions including children’s chronic ear infections (40% of children, due in part to stove smoke), 25% of patients with GI issues, 20% with respiratory issues, and other infections, trauma, etc.  Camps include a pathology lab, ultrasound, medications, and referrals.

Local health providers will be provided with world class hands-on training. The 2018 spring trek will also host an eye camp in Jharlang. This six-day camp will provide eye care for 600-750 patients, including vision-restoring treatment for 300+ patients. HHC has carried out two previous eye camps, most recently in 2016. HHC volunteers will walk to all households in five remote villages to identify patients. The camp’s Nepali eye team (two ophthalmologists, ophthalmic camp officer, OR nurse, assisting nurse) will be supported by HHC, local health workers, and District health team. The camp includes an outpatient day, four surgery days, and a day of post-operative care training for local providers.

While these medical camps offer urgently needed treatment, training, surgery and referrals, there is also a pressing need for post-quake health care infrastructure reconstruction. Dhading District’s only hospital, which serves 250,000 people, lost its Outpatient Building in the earthquake. HHC’s reconstruction of this building is almost complete. HHC is seeking help in  furnishing this structure which will support outpatient services for over 60,000 patients a year. HHC is racing against time to help serve tens of thousands of patients of rural Dhading.

As we reflect on our 25 years of service to the people of Nepal, we are grateful for donors like you who make our work possible. 

We thank you for your support,

Himalayan HealthCare

Links:

• HHC 2018 SPRING Medical Trek in Nepal
• HHC 2018 FALL Medical Trek in Nepal