Enhancing the Health System in Nepal

In the small and remote community of Jayele in Nepal, 49 out of 815 population are sponsored families of Good Neighbors. The only available health service in their community was through Jayele Outreach Clinic (ORC) which offered basic services like vaccination, antenatal care, postnatal care, iron distribution, and family planning once a month. For the rest of the time and services, residents had to make the more than an hour’s walk to the Deurali Health Post.

Running the ORC posed a challenge to Mr. Humnath Sharman, the in-charge of Deurali Health Post and Jayele ORC. TThey had to deliver services in one of the local houses and transport necessary equipment and medicines each time. Due to a lack of proper space and adequate equipment, the service delivered at the ORC could not be as effective as it should have been.

To address this critical issue, GN Nepal has continued its unwavering support for the government, working towards improving health services and health-seeking behavior and practices at the local level.

The Local Health System Strengthening Project under the Integrated Country Development Program (ICDP), was established with the primary objective of boosting the operational and management capacity of health facilities at the grassroots level. This was achieved through a variety of interventions such as construction and renovation of health facilities, provision of equipment and utilities, training of community health workforces, and conducting awareness-raising activities to promote preventive health measures in the community.

Additionally, 19,276 sponsored children and 7,135 non-sponsored children received medical health check-ups. GN Nepal also provided 72 health clinics with basic utilities and medical equipment and a total of 400 outreach health clinics and facilities are cooperating with GN Nepal.

Thanks to these collective efforts, the impact has been palpable. Mr. Sharma shared, “Now this CHU is offering safe motherhood and newborn care, family planning, child health, health education and counseling and first aid treatment to locals on regular basis. People of Jayele don’t have to walk a long distance just to receive basic health services anymore.”