Kids to receive jabs against typhoid

The government is launching a nationwide vaccination campaign to reduce the burden of typhoid fever among the children from April 8 to May 1. Around seven million children aged between 15 months and 15 years will be administered the vaccine against typhoid for the first time in Nepal.

65% of total population vaccinated

Vaccines are the main mitigation medium to combat COVID-19 hence the government has targeted to inoculate all eligible citizens by mid-April. Nepal has fully vaccinated 65 per cent of its total population against COVID-19 so far. The government is intensifying vaccination campaign in full swing as it aims to fully vaccinate 100 per cent of those above 18 years by mid-April. To meet the target the government needs to vaccinate another 18 per cent of the people above 18 years of age within two weeks. As...

Epilepsy Reducing Treatment Gap Essential

Epilepsy in Nepal is a big health issue due to the high treatment gap with the widespread use of traditional healers. The treatment gap is found due to poor understanding of epilepsy among patients and poor access to health specialists.

Ending TB endemic still challenging

Tuberculosis (TB), which is one of the oldest foes of humanity and which is both preventable and curable disease, continues to cause untold suffering and deaths. Due to the lack of the comprehensive TB coverage, limited health resources, challenging geographic terrain and fragile health infrastructure, many patients are neither identified nor treated. Many TB patients are out of reach of treatment facility. According to Dr. Sanjaya Kumar Thakur, National Tuberculosis Control Centre (NTCC) director,...

Outbreak of seasonal diseases pose a threat as people flout health protocols

For the past two years, the government focused on health safety precautions in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19, effectively containing the outbreak of many seasonal diseases in Nepal. However, as the pandemic appears to have relaxed its grip, people are increasing their mobility, and not caring about self-hygiene, which is posing a threat of rise in seasonal illnesses. As the coronavirus cases fall, health experts have warned of a rise in the cases of seasonal diseases associated with...

‘Bridge the knowledge gap to better kidney health’

Hari Rokaya, 43, of Ramechhap district, who has been working as a taxi driver, has his both kidneys damaged. He has been receiving dialysis service for the last two-and-half years. He said that he was not undergoing transplantation because he had yet to find a potential donor. Rokaya is among the many breadwinners of a family who suffer from renal failure. According to doctors, hypertension, diabetes, glomerulonephritis, obesity, and family history of kidney diseases are major risk factors...

Appreciable Handling Of COVID Crisis By Local Levels

Over two years has passed since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world including Nepal. For Nepal, it was like another unexpected crisis, while still grappling with the post-disaster recovery efforts of the 2015 earthquake. Being unprepared for an unexpected pandemic of such a scale, the early days were filled with scariness in everyone while the government was trying its best to cope with the situation. When the first COVID-19 case in Nepal was detected on January 23, 2020, the government was in a...

COVID-19 cases decline by over 18% in week

The COVID-19 infection rate is decreasing in Nepal. According to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), the infection rate has declined by 16 per cent in a week. According to Dr. Sameer Kumar Adhikari, assistant spokesperson at the MoHP, the infection rate has declined by 16.1 per cent compared with the week earlier. Among 59,459 RT-PCR tests conducted last week, 17,830 came back positives, while among 65,094 RT-PCR tests conducted this week, 17,830 returned positives.

Self-examination vital to keep oral cancer at bay

Oral cancer is most common preventable cancer worldwide and the burden of the disease is high in South Asian countries including Nepal. Oral cancer is easily preventable and treatable if diagnosed early. However, most of the patients are not diagnosed until it reaches the late stage and only half of those that develop the disease manage to survive few years, said Dr. Prakash Budhathoki, Oral and Dental expert.

Omicron may be fatal for unvaccinated

Although the overall fatality rate due to COVID-19 has decline to 1.1 per cent in Nepal, the death toll on an average has hovered at more than 10 per day over the last few days. On Monday, 13 deaths reported were due to COVID-19-related complications. That figure was 11 on Sunday, nine on Saturday, 16 on Friday, 14 on Thursday, 12 on Wednesday and nine on Tuesday. The percentage of people who eventually succumb to the coronavirus is lower during the third wave than those in the first and second...