Socioeconomic, Behavioural, and Health-related Characteristics of Older Adults.

Background: The global aging population is growing rapidly, and Nepal is no exception. This increase is driven by changes in socioeconomic conditions, health behaviours, and advancements in the health system. In Nepal, almost a quarter of the national population are older adults (≥45 years), whose health status is rarely elaborated.

Implementation status of self-assessment/peer-group discussion program: a bottom-up approach of monitoring/supervision in improving quality of health services.

Background: Monitoring/supervision is an essential component for improving the quality of health services including rational use of medicines. A new bottom-up approach of monitoring/supervision consisting of self-assessment/ peer-group discussion was found to be effective in improving prescribing practices. The new strategy significantly improved the prescribing practices based on standard treatment guidelines.

Reproductive morbidity in a village of Kathmandu.

Background: Reproductive morbidity has been a less studied area in developing countries. Prevalence of reproductive morbidity and health seeking behavior pertaining to it is little known. To reveal the magnitude, this study was carried out in a village of Kathmandu district.

Review of health and health service improvements in Nepal.

Nepal has made great progress regarding maternal and childhood mortality over the past two decades. A visionary leadership, coupled with the implementation of targeted interventions and programmes have resulted in improved MNCH indicators and marked decline in mortality. Maternal deaths have dropped by almost half from 539 per 100,000 live births in 1996 to 281 in 2006.

Chlorhexidine gel versus aqueous for preventive use on umbilical stump: a randomized noninferiority trial.

Background: Recent trials of chlorhexidine cord cleansing have employed aqueous solution applied with cotton swabs. Care-takers may prefer gel, resulting in better compliance when implemented at large scale. We examined whether a guar-gum-thickened formulation was at least as efficacious as aqueous in reducing periumbilical flora.