Department of Health Services of Nepal, Nepal Public Health Foundation and icddr,b sign MoU

The Department of Health Services (Ministry of Health), Nepal; Nepal Public Health Foundation (NPHF) and icddr,b have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen Nepal’s public health research, advocacy and training on December 05, 2017 at a local restaurant in Kathmandu.

The scope of the agreement includes:

a) Collaboration to explore the use of low cost innovations developed by icddr,b, such as bubble continuous positive airway pressure (bCPAP) for treatment of children with severe pneumonia; expandable clean birthing kit that contains misoprostol and birthing mat to address maternal haemorrhage during child birth; ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) using local ingredients for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM); and social enterprise model for public/private partnership initiative to detect and treat patients with tuberculosis (TB)

b) Development of joint research proposal to seek international funding

c) Strengthening human resources for health,

d) Strengthening capacity for research

Commenting on the initiative, Dr Mahesh Maskey, Executive Chair of NPHF said, “This is a great opportunity for us to initiate this collaboration, which has research aspect and use of appropriate technologies. I am very optimistic about what the results could bring to Nepal’s public health. Apart from the four discussion topics, we are also looking forward to cooperation with icddr,b in other areas. We are inspired by icddr,b’s encouragement to empower Nepal’s capacity to produce innovations like RUTF in Nepal.”

On the occasion, Dr Sri Krishna Giri, Chief of Policy, Planning and International Cooperation Division, Government of Nepal said, “This agreement will help us generate the evidence to influence policy. Now, the country is in transition from a unitary system to a federal system. This is a big political transition and we need to expand our capacity to the provincial level. Simple economic innovations can help us to expand care to the provinces prevent mortality and save lives.”

icddr,b’s Executive Director Professor John D Clemens said, “icddr,b is committed to developing and sharing low-cost innovations that  can have a major impact in low and middle income countries. We are very excited to work with the Ministry of Health of Nepal and the Nepal Public Health Foundation on implementation research to provide evidence about the feasibility, acceptability, impact, and cost-effectiveness of our pipeline of exciting, potentially life-saving interventions in programs for the poor in Nepal.”  

Representatives from the Government of Nepal, NPHF, WHO, UNICEF, DFID, USAID and icddr,b were also present at the signing event.

Department of Health Services of Nepal, Nepal Public Health Foundation and icddr,b sign MoU

The Department of Health Services (Ministry of Health), Nepal; Nepal Public Health Foundation (NPHF) and icddr,b have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen Nepals public health research, advocacy and training on December 05, 2017 at a local restaurant in Kathmandu. The scope of the agreement includes: a) Collaboration to explore the use of low cost innovations developed by icddr,b, such as bubble continuous positive airway pressure (bCPAP) for treatment of children with severe pneumonia; expandable clean birthing kit that contains misoprostol and birthing mat to address maternal haemorrhage during child birth; ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) using local ingredients for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM); and social enterprise model for public/private partnership initiative to detect and treat patients with tuberculosis (TB) b) Development of joint research proposal to seek international funding c) Strengthening human resources for health, d) Strengthening capacity for research Commenting on the initiative, Dr Mahesh Maskey, Executive Chair of NPHF said, This is a great opportunity for us to initiate this collaboration, which has research aspect and use of appropriate technologies. I am very optimistic about what the results could bring to Nepals public health. Apart from the four discussion topics, we are also looking forward to cooperation with icddr,b in other areas. We are inspired by icddr,bs encouragement to empower Nepals capacity to produce innovations like RUTF in Nepal. On the occasion, Dr Sri Krishna Giri, Chief of Policy, Planning and International Cooperation Division, Government of Nepal said, This agreement will help us generate the evidence to influence policy. Now, the country is in transition from a unitary system to a federal system. This is a big political transition and we need to expand our capacity to the provincial level. Simple economic innovations can help us to expand care to the provinces prevent mortality and save lives. icddr,bs Executive Director Professor John D Clemens said, icddr,b is committed to developing and sharing low-cost innovations that can have a major impact in low and middle income countries. We are very excited to work with the Ministry of Health of Nepal and the Nepal Public Health Foundation on implementation research to provide evidence about the feasibility, acceptability, impact, and cost-effectiveness of our pipeline of exciting, potentially life-saving interventions in programs for the poor in Nepal. Representatives from the Government of Nepal, NPHF, WHO, UNICEF, DFID, USAID and icddr,b were also present at the signing event.