Ensuring Quality Healthcare to Children of Nepal

Health Worker in Kapilvastu District Organizes Better Care for Children Under Five

Situation

In Nepal children younger than 15 years old make up more than 40% of the population. Entrenched poverty and the fact that much of the population live in remote rural areas, have made the mortality rate high for children five years of age and younger.

Solutions

Vishnu Khanal, after completing RGH’s online 7‐Day MPH program, decided he wanted to develop a project to serve the children of his district of Kapilvastu in Nepal. His goal was to help health care workers improve their work performance and offer quality care, efficiently and consistently in order to decrease under‐ five morbidity and mortality.

Vishnu realized he needed lobbying to reach the target population as planned. He prepared presentations for the District of Health Office and local body council from which he got his financial support for the project. Based on his training, he saw the need for Electronic Data Registry and Stock Track Systems, so Vishnu developed an Excel linked file to calculate the amount of medication required. The system also facilitates the district authority’s process to calculate the Emergency Stock Level (lowest level) and Authorized Stock Level (highest level). By entering data of respective month/year, one can calculate
the amount required for the following month and year.

Success

Based on Vishnu’s original model, Electronic Data Registry and Stock Track Systems have now been implemented in more than 10 districts of Nepal. This means that more children get the medicine they need when they need it. This project has also led to health workers receiving much‐needed technical support. Female community health workers have been added to ease access to houses in the community. The result is more children under five in the district of Kapilvastu are receiving life‐saving healthcare.

About this Series

RGH’s 7-Day online programs provide participants with dynamic capacity building solutions that empower real country-led development. This series highlights the success of participants as they strive to bring better health and well-being to their communities and countries.