|
pubmed:otherAbstract |
PIP: Health education in Nepal, according to the Long Term Health Plan (1975- 1990) emphasizes an integrated, intersectorial approach, committed to providing minimum health care to the maximum number of people. Nepal has about 16 million people, 90% of them rural, growing at over 2.7% yearly, with a rising growth rate, a 12.2% infant mortality rate, a 50% child mortality rate, and life expectancies of 46 for men and 42.5 for women. 2 health projects based on community volunteers are described: the urban Bhaktapur Development Project and the rural Jumla Project. The Bhaktapur Project employs Community Health Leaders, Village Health Workers, and Panchayat Based Health Workers to provide basic health care and health education, emphasizing prevention. These workers visit households daily, and teach sanitation, latrine construction, water supply development, first aid, detect deficiency diseases, and refer people to clinics. The Jumla Project supplies a densely populated but inaccessible mountainous region where food supplies have to be airlifted, the per capita income averages $140, firewood must be brought from may kilometers away, and local streams are used for drinking water, livestock, bathing and latrines. In the 1st 2 years of the project, 11 pit latrines and 2 gravity fed water systems were constructed. Now latrines are being built all over the region with materials supplied by the International Human Assistance Programme.
|
