Government of Nepal

Over the course of two and a half decades of partnership, UNFPA has assisted the Nepalese Government in formulating population development and reproductive health policies and strategies to support sustainable development in Nepal.

Since collaboration commenced in the 1970s, UNFPA's support to the Government of Nepal has been seen in the following programmatic areas: family planning, maternal health care, population education, expansion of the population database, creation of a national plan of action for women in development, introduction of a health management information system, capacity development to integrate population issues into development plans and programmes, integration of family life education into school curricula, conduction and analysis of a national census, and dissemination and incorporation of the results into policy planning.

The Fund and the Government of Nepal have also worked together in building and strengthening the capacity of national institutions and partners, upgrading training and service facilities including training on reproductive health in emergency settings, ensuring procurement and supplies of equipment, contraceptives, emergency obstetric care kits, and boxes for Maternal and Child Health Workers and Auxiliary Nurse Midwifes.

At the national level UNFPA's Reproductive Health Programme team works closely with different units of Ministry of Health and Population Government of Nepal: Management Division, Family Health Division, National Health Training Center, National Health Education Information Communication Center, National Center for AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control and Logistic Management Division.

Recently UNFPA supported the government implementing partners in conducting following activities:

• Development and endorsement of Health Sector Information System Strategy as part of Nepal Health Sector Implementation Plan. UNFPA provided equipment, software and training for line officers of Ministry of Health in three pilot districts: Parsa, lalitpur and Rupandehi.
• Technical and funding assistance for revision of Reproductive Health Strategy developed by Family Health Division (FHD) in line with the emerging new plans and policies- Nepal Health Sector Programme -Implementation Plan, Long Term Health Plan; and issues - HIV and AIDS, gender based violence.
• Development and endorsement of National Reproductive Health Commodity Security (RHCS) Strategy. Nepal is the first country in the region to develop RHCS strategy.
• Revision and update of RH Clinical Protocol for Medical Officers which will be followed by orientation to the Medical Officers and other paramedics .
• Conducting district, regional and national level reviews and workshops for health workers, community mobilizers, community volunteers and teachers on various aspects of reproductive health, reproductive health services, awareness and prevention of HIV and Aids.
• Improving capacity of national partners through trainings in reproductive health commodity security, family planning, reproductive health in emergency settings, gender based violence, adolescent sexual and reproductive health, gender mainstreaming.
• Development of five year Training Master Plan for implementation of National Training Strategy developed with UNFPA support during its 5th Country Programme.
• Development of the Road Map for increasing access to skilled birth attendants with the leadership of the Family Health Division (FHD), Department of Health Services (DOHS), in collaboration with WHO. This was done through a workshop participated by all the partners/stakeholders, professional societies, medical and nursing associations/councils, training institutions including private sector, NGOs and policy makers.
• Development of the qualifications' guidelines for skilled birth attendants in line with the National skilled birth attendant policy, under the leadership of Family Health Division (FHD) and Department of Health Services (DOHS) in collaboration with WHO with the involvement of the national and international experts. This has been done with the involvement of UNFPA Country Support Team South and West Asia, relevant partners/stakeholders, professional societies, medical and nursing associations/councils, training institutions including private sector, NGOs and DOHS/MOHP.
• Development of advocacy package for parliamentarians.
• Prevention of stocking-out of reproductive health commodities through annual commodity distribution programme (ACDP)

The Government of Nepal has recognized that, if social and economic development efforts are to succeed and the HIV and AIDS pandemic is to be reversed, it is vital that they develop comprehensive population and reproductive health programmes that incorporate the reproductive health needs of women, men and adolescents at all operational levels. To address reproductive health and population development issues at the national, community, district and village levels UNFPA and the Government of Nepal have worked together to strengthen the public health care system by providing a comprehensive package of high quality and gender-sensitive reproductive health services to the Nepalese population and to improve the institutional capacity at the national and grassroots levels.

UNFPA continues supporting data collection, research, and monitoring functions of the government throughout the UN Development Assistance Framework period. This support aims to enable effective national monitoring of progress toward the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) / the Millennium Development Goals and toward the targets of the National Planning Commission, and other international instruments to which Nepal is a party.