Infection prevention and awareness in remote Nepal

PHASE Nepal has been supporting the improvement of primary health care services in the hard-to-reach rural communities of the Karnali, Gandaki, and Bagmati provinces in Nepal, providing essential health services such as general OPD checks, antenatal checks, child delivery, and postnatal care. Another key aspect of our work has been responding to the pandemic and helping to prevent the spread of infection through awareness sessions with demonstrations in maintaining hygiens at personal, family and institutional level, curative clinical services. With the generous support of various institutional and individual donors like you, PHASE Nepal has expanded/continued preventive, promotive and curative health services including 24/7 emergency service through eleven health units across Mugu, Humla, Bajura, Jajarkot, Gorkha and Sindhupalchok districts, benefiting more than 60,000 individuals annually.

We would like to share with you a recent cured case of cellulitis infection.

A 45-year-old mother in a village in Gorkha infected of cellulitis for a month has been cured after treatment at PHASE clinic in Manbu, Gorkha. She was injured in her left leg when she fell on the way back to her home from forest carrying a bundle of fodder for her animals in the first week of October. It was a small cut injury so she visited nearby private clinic for treatment however, the medicine provided did not work, rather the wound got bigger and worse by the end of October.

She visited our clinic on October 30, 2025 for a check-up with complaints of severe pain, swelling, redness, and fever in her right leg for the past three days. The pain gradually radiated to joints and she had difficulty in walking and it was painful even when she was on rest.

PHASE health workers carefully carried out physical examination, the skin of the affected leg appeared swollen, red, shiny and she had slight fever indicating signs of inflammation. She also reported reduced appetite and general discomfort. Based on her symptoms and clinical assessment, she was diagnosed with cellulitis, a bacterial infection of the skin and underlying tissues. 

PHASE health workers carefully cleaned the wound with normal saline and applied neomycin ointment, and covered the wound with proper dressing. She was given medicines for a week for healing the wound, cap. Cloxacillin 500 mg four times a day, Tab. Metronidazole 400 mg, Cap. Omeprazole 20 mg, and analgesic Ibuprofen 400 mg for pain relief. She was advised to visit the clinic daily to change the dressing and asked to take provided medicine on time. She was encouraged to rest, maintain personal hygiene, and was informed about the importance of completing her full course of antibiotics.

Gradually, the leg pain and swelling reduced, and the patient showed complete recovery in a week time and she got back to her normal life.

She is living with one son, one daughter and her husband in Dhunchet village of Gorkha district, west Nepal. Subsistence agriculture and animal husbandry is the main source of livelihoods of her family with seasonal labor work in the community.

This and various health care services PHASE provides in remote locations provides has been very important for the people who are in remote locations, living far away from health care services. They are thankful to PHASE which has been providing free health care support to those in need with all your support.

We sincerely appreciate your continued support, which has enabled us to reach people in need in remote locations with a meaningful and often lifesaving assistance.

Thank you so much for reading this update.