Abstract
Public health has come a long way in Nepal, but there is still a long way to go. Over the past years some remarkable achievements have been made in millennium development goals, such as reduction of child mortality, maternal mortality and fertility. However, there still exist wide gaps in health coverage among different ethnic groups, geographic regions and gender. In this context, a 10+2 agenda is recommended for scaling-up essential health care in Nepal. These focus on equity, tackling malnutrition, prioritizing non-communicable diseases, preventing accidents, injuries and disabilities, promoting environmental health, harnessing the power of education and communication for behavior change, strengthening health systems, fostering public-private partnership, capitalizing on international health partnerships, as well as institutionalizing a culture of non-violence, and consolidating genuine democracy.
Highlights
Public health is defined as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations and individuals."[1] There are two distinct characteristics of public health: first, it deals with population-level rather than individual-level health issues, and second, it emphasizes preventive rather than curative aspects of health
How are we doing in terms of public health in Nepal? Lately, there has been much debate about the huge remaining challenges in public health, but the achievements made so far should not be under-valued
Prioritize Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD): Nepal is going through an "epidemiological transition" with non-communicable diseases accounting for more than 44% of deaths and 80% of outpatient contacts
Summary
Public health is defined as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations and individuals."[1] There are two distinct characteristics of public health: first, it deals with population-level rather than individual-level health issues, and second, it emphasizes preventive rather than curative aspects of health. Perhaps the biggest challenge is to narrow the gap in coverage of essential health services among people of different caste and ethnic groups, different geographic regions, between male and female, and between the rich and the poor. In light of this mixed picture of relatively good progress in expanding essential health services, but with major problems of equity, what follows is a 10+2 agenda for uplifting the public health sector in the coming decade: 1. What we need now is to implement this plan diligently with strong partnerships, enhanced human resources, essential supplies, sufficient funds and reliable monitoring
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