The Ministry of Health (MoH) has decided to launch orientation progrmmames for local representatives to encourage them to include more health related activities in their planning and budget allocation. 

The MoH is developing an orientation package targeting the elected local representatives and for those who will be elected following the federal and provincial level. 

As many as 35,221 local representatives across the country have been elected from the local level elections, the first in two decades, which were held in three phases on May 14, June 28 and September 18.

The MoH is working to develop 11 orientation packages that will deal with various facets of the health sector, including brief introduction to health programmes, issues of maternal and child health, nutrition and immunisation. The packages will also link health with overall development of the community, encouraging the local representatives to invest in and prioritise health related programmes. 

“All of our health institutions have been already handed over to the local bodies. They should understand their functioning while helping them identify priority issues,” said Mahendra Shrestha, chief of District Public Health Office, Kathmandu. 

According to officials of the MoH, a two-day training programmes for local representatives will be organised in each district.  

Public health experts have long expressed concern about the possibility of local representatives neglecting the health issues. They also have been saying that even if health is prioritised, more efforts might be on curative care—mostly based in hospitals—while completely ignoring other public health interventions. 

“There are competing priorities of local representatives. In the absence of a comprehensive understanding of issues related to public health, the focus might be diverted only to curative care. And result-oriented public health interventions such as immunisation, prevention of non-communicable disease and waterborne diseases and environmental-related issues might be put on the back burner,” said Dr Sushil Baral, a public health expert. 

Nepal has been recognised worldwide for its dramatic reduction of deaths of pregnant mothers and newborns.