Appendicular actinomycosis: The first reported case of an uncommon finding of a common ailment from Nepal.

Key Clinical Message: Actinomycosis is a rare cause of appendicitis with an incidence of 0.3-1 incident per year per 100,000 people. A significant preoperative diagnostic challenge exists and is usually diagnosed incidentally on histopathological examination.

Defining Collective Priorities: Research and Learning Agendas for Family Planning Across 6 Countries.

Evidence should be the foundation for a well-designed family planning (FP) program, but existing evidence is rarely aligned with and/or synthesized to speak directly to FP programmatic needs. Based on our experience cocreating FP research and learning agendas (FP RLAs) in Côte d'Ivoire, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, and Uganda, we argue that FP RLAs can drive the production of coordinated research that aligns with national priorities.To cocreate FP RLAs, stakeholders across 6 countries conducted desk reviews of 349 documents and 106 key informant interviews, organized consultation meetings in each country to prioritize evidence gaps and generate research and learning questions, and, ultimately, formed 6 FP RLAs comprising 190 unique questions.

How Home Delivery of Antiretroviral Drugs Ensured Uninterrupted HIV Treatment During COVID-19: Experiences From Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, and Nigeria.

Introduction: Faced with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, governments worldwide instituted lockdowns to curtail virus spread. Health facility closures and travel restrictions disrupted access to antiretroviral (ARV) therapy for people living with HIV. This report describes how HIV programs in Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, and Nigeria supported treatment continuation by introducing home delivery of ARVs.

Factors associated with HIV testing and counselling services among women and men in Nepal: a cross-sectional study using data from a nationally representative survey.

Objectives: This study is set up to explore the factors associated with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) testing among women and men in Nepal.

Study Design: Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, 2016 adopts a cross-sectional design.

Setting: Nepal.

Availability and readiness to provide sexually transmitted infections and HIV testing and counselling services in Nepal: evidence from comprehensive health facility survey.

Objective: We assessed the availability and readiness of health facilities to provide sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV testing and counselling (HTC) services in Nepal.

Design: This was a cross-sectional study.

Setting: We used data from the most recent nationally representative Nepal Health Facility Survey (NHFS) 2015.

Epidemiology of severe cases of influenza and other acute respiratory infections in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, July 2016 to June 2018.

Background: Influenza surveillance systems in the Eastern Mediterranean Region have been strengthened in the past few years and 16 of the 19 countries in the Region with functional influenza surveillance systems report their influenza data to the EMFLU Network. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of circulating influenza viruses, causing SARI, and reported to the EMFLU during July 2016 to June 2018.

Methods: Data included in this study were collected by 15 countries of the Region from 110 SARI sentinel surveillance sites over two influenza seasons.

A review of family planning policies and services in WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region Member States.

Background: Family planning (FP) is a cost-effective public health and development intervention. Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), has one of the lowest contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) and high unmet need for family planning.

Aims: The aim of this review is to assist Member States in highlighting those areas that need strengthening to improve quality of FP services in information and commodity supplies.

Pandemic influenza preparedness (PIP) framework: Progress challenges in improving influenza preparedness response capacities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 2014-2017.

Influenza viruses with pandemic potential have been detected in humans in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. The Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework aims to improve the sharing of influenza viruses with pandemic potential and increase access of developing countries to vaccines and other life-saving products during a pandemic. Under the Framework, countries have been supported to enhance their capacities to detect, prepare for and respond to pandemic influenza.

Field test results of the motherhood method to measure maternal mortality.

Background & Objectives: Measuring maternal mortality in developing countries poses a major challenge. In Nepal, vital registration is extremely deficient. Currently available methods to measure maternal mortality, such as the sisterhood method, pose problems with respect to validity, precision, cost and time.