Nepal: Kavre Community Outreach Program

RMF’s Presence

Outreach Plan

Since 2015, RMF’s efforts to improve the health and wellbeing of Kavre residents have continued to develop. In the first quarter of 2017, RMF received approval of our 5-year Health Care System Strengthening and Outreach Program from Nepal’s Ministry of Women, Children, and Social Welfare (MoWCSW). As a result, RMF will be able to fully implement the Kavre Community Outreach Program. In the near future, RMF plans to expand the scope of the program by fully supporting one clinic in Lakainey, Namo Buddha, and providing supplemental support to Dapcha Health Post.

In November of 2017, the RMF Nepal team visited several rural areas of Kavre to explore options for the expansion of support to Kavre residents. During the visits, RMF Nepal Program Manager Ganesh Shrestha met with the District Heath Office of Kavre, the Dapcha Health Post Management Committee, the mayor of Namo Buddha municipality, and the Phulbari Lakainey Health Post Team.

Progress and Support Expansion

Meeting with the District Health Office (DHO), Kavre Team

A meeting was organized to discuss the support needed in communities and health facilities in Kavre. During the meeting, the DHO team suggested visits to:

• Dapcha Health Post
• Bhumlitar Health Post
• Shikhan Ambote Health Post

Meeting with Dapcha Health Post Management Committee, Kavre

Based on the decisions made in the previous meeting, the RMF Nepal team visited Dapcha Health Post in Namo Buddha municipality, Kavre district. The village is 18km away from Kavre’s capital, Dhulikhel, although the much of the journey is off-road and only seasonally traversable. More than 3,500 people live in the catchment area of this health post.

Previously, with support from the municipality, the health post had provided an outpatient department, laboratory, birthing center, outreach clinics, health education, and some community awareness programs. However, due to lack of funds, the laboratory service is no longer available, birthing center services are only available at irregular intervals, outreach clinics have become less effective and less frequent, and other community health awareness programs have also ceased.

Currently, 4 healthcare workers are providing services at Dapcha Health Post:

• 1 Health Assistant (HA)
• 1 Axillary Health Worker (AHW)
• 1 Axillary Nurse Midwife (ANM)
• 1 Office Assistant

RMF Support to Dapcha Health Post

After fully analyzing the health post’s situation, the RMF and the Dapcha Health Post Management Committee teams agreed on following support activities:

• RMF will provide some essential equipment, chemicals, and supplies to reinstate laboratory services. A medical lab technician also will be provided by the RMF.
• RMF will provide a Skilled Birth Attendant (SBA) who will be responsible for maternal and child health services, especially for conducting institutional delivery services.
• RMF will provide a medical officer who will visit Dapcha Health Post once a week and provide medical services.
• RMF will provide essential medical equipment and supplies. The health post manager will prepare a list of the necessary supplies and submit it to the RMF Nepal team.
• Dapcha Health Post will provide a monthly report to RMF Nepal, including the number of beneficiaries, success stories, and photographs of maternity, OPD, and lab services as well as community awareness activities.

More than 3,500 people will benefit directly from these support activities, and the medical officer and laboratory services may also attract patients from neighboring villages, further increasing the number of beneficiaries. It is expected that about 60-75 institutional deliveries will be performed annually at Dapcha Health Post.

Meeting with the mayor of Namo Buddha municipality, Kavre

The RMF Nepal team attended an important meeting with the mayor of Namo Buddha municipality and his team, as Namo Buddha municipality is the local government authority which makes partnership decisions for its catchment area, including Dapcha Health Post.

Along with Mayor Mr. T. P. Sharma, the executive officer, the health coordinator, the chairperson of the health post management committee, the health post manager, and some stakeholders were present at the meeting. The mayor agreed with the support agreements discussed with Dapcha Health Post in the previous meeting.

In addition to the proposed support to Dapcha health post, the mayor introduced another possible project and suggested a visit to the site for assessment and further meetings. Based on this, the RMF team visited Phulbari Lakainey Health Post, where the next meeting was held.

Phulbari Lakainey Health Post Team

A building for a clinic, or health post, was constructed by a Korean organization in Lakainey, Namo Buddha municipality. The building was constructed immediately after the 2015 earthquake, and the clinic was run by the same Korean organization using their resources for few months. However, due to a lack of funds, the Korean organization stopped its clinical services and handed the clinic over to the municipality. Since then, the clinic has not reinstated its services.

After visiting the Phulbari Lakainey Health Post, the RMF team had another meeting with the mayor and health coordinator of Namo Buddha municipality. The following support activities have been proposed to reinstate services at the health post:

• The municipality will provide the existing building, medical equipment, and furniture while RMF is running the health post.
• RMF will staff the clinic with 1 health post manager, 1 assistant health worker, and 1 support staff.
• The municipality will provide vaccines and other regular supplies to the health post.
• The RMF staff will submit monthly reports to RMF Nepal and to the Namo Buddha municipality.

These support activities will begin once approved by RMF headquarters.