Project Namtar IV (Nepal Community Health Project)

This is our fourth year carrying out Nepal Community Health Project (Project Namtar), which is a part of Medical Outreachers’ long term project in the Namtar village of Nepal’s Makwanpur district. Namtar village, located in the remote areas of Nepal, has a population of 9000 rural villagers. Previous phases of the project identified various health gaps, namely: low access to health education/information, underutilization of available health service, and lack of health awareness and practice. Together with our collaborating institutions Encouraging of Words, Rotary E-club of Lantau and Patan Academy of Health Sciences, we brought about interventions and continuous evaluation in previous biannual visits. In a recent visit, our evaluation showed that there are a number of health issues yet to be fully addressed and ameliorated. As shown by our survey’s data, one persistent problem is water sanitation and hygiene, with only 32% of households treating water despite potentially contaminated water sources. This is an example of an improved, but yet persistently poor health gap in the community.

This June, we hope to raise more interest towards health issues and address these health gaps by increasing the breadth and depth of health education, organizing health camps, providing various health resources, continuing to run household visits and implementing a new element of village talks for adults. We are also extending our services to Kalikatar, a village nearby that is equally in need of health interventions, so that more can be benefited. We would like to continue to expand our efforts in bringing out further improvements in Namtar impactfully and sustainably.