Rural women are deprived of safe motherhood services due to illiteracy, poverty and lack of public health awareness.

Both parties and their candidates have failed to give due importance to the voter education campaign. As a result, many eligible voters are unaware of the voting process creating high chances of invalid votes.

Women of the remote Achham local unit demanded a ban on alcohol, introduction of women-centric programmes at the local level and accessibility to a good healthcare system, but their demands remain unaddressed.

Road connectivity has led to a boom in agricultural output and small businesses in the villages since transportation has opened up new markets and possibilities.

There are more than 30 girls of school-going age in Pipalgaun, a Dalit settlement in Achham, and none of them goes to school as the parents want them at home to help run the household.

There are more than 500 health institutions in the district and none of them is equipped to provide essential services.

They have long been demanding competitive salaries and allowances but to no avail.

Neither the police administration nor the local units and local people are showing interest in effectively implementing the campaign, women say.

As many as 86 cases of domestic violence were reported at the District Police Office in the past 20 months.

The women leaders and activists take up all the space and in doing so exclude real victims from conversations about gender violence, local women say.

Lack of health awareness, poverty, geographical remoteness and non-cooperation of family lead most women to go for home births despite risks.

A majority of local government offices are operating from congested rented buildings.

Increase in public movement has led to a resurgence of coronavirus cases in Kanchanpur, health workers say.

The construction of roads without carrying out environmental impact assessments has put several parts of the district at high risk of landslides, local residents say.

Health workers suspect that many recent deaths in the villages might have been due to Covid-19 but since no testing were done, the deaths haven’t been linked to the virus.