Kathmandu. Minister for Health and Population Pradeep Poudel has urged international donors, including the United Nations, to continue the foreign development assistance cuts that have affected Nepal’s maternal, child and newborn life-saving programmes.
Speaking at a ministerial-level roundtable organised before the start of the 78th Meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, Minister Poudel said that the reduction in assistance has created a challenge. According to Minister Poudel’s private secretariat, nepal has moved ahead to upgrade to the list of low and middle-income countries.
According to Minister Poudel, the important services being provided to about 5 million women of reproductive age and the nutrition program for 1.5 million children under five years of age have been stopped. He said that 3.5 million adults will be affected by the reduction in support of reproductive education and services.
“Other bilateral and multilateral reductions due to the change in priorities are likely to affect nepal’s major health programmes such as maternal and child health, vaccination, nutrition, safe abortion services and family planning programmes,” minister Poudel said. Stating that Nepal has been trying to increase investment from internal sources despite the support and budget cuts, Minister Poudel said that the declining health budget remains a challenge.
Stating that the least developed countries of the world are suffering from the reduction of aid, Minister Poudel said that the United Nations and donor agencies should emphasize on sustainable economic and technical assistance to meet the health challenges. Minister Poudel briefed the meeting about nepal’s achievements in the field of maternal and child health. Presenting the statistics, Minister Poudel expressed the belief that nepal’s maternal mortality rate has decreased by 71 percent per 100,000 births in 2023 as compared to 2000.
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