Working towards Health Equity and Access in Rural Nepal
Posted in Mortality Reviews, Patient Stories on Aug 22nd, 2010
Posted by Duncan Maru, MD, PHD We are unlikely to find the ultimate cause of death for two young male siblings who died at Bayalpata Hospital after a toxin ingestion. In our mortality review, the key point of reflection is less on our clinical operations, as they have been recently, and more on the general [...]
Posted in Patient Stories, Social Justice and Health on Aug 9th, 2010
Posted by Duncan Maru, MD, PHD At Bayalpata Hospital, we face clinical questions that our so harsh, so uncomfortable, that they challenge our very humanity as healthcare providers. The clinical challenge in this morbidity and mortality review is precisely one such instance: What is the appropriate management when a pregnant woman comes in from a [...]
Posted in Logistics and Management, Patient Stories, Social Justice and Health on Aug 6th, 2010
Posted by Ryan Schwarz Recently, Nyaya’s staff at Bayalpata Hospital received a 7 year-old boy who had fallen and sustained significant head injuries. There was concern that he had fractured his skull and had increased pressure inside his skull cavity – a life-threatening condition. He was immediately transferred to Seti Zonal Hospital in Nyaya’s ambulance [...]
Posted in Logistics and Management, News, Patient Stories, Social Justice and Health on Aug 2nd, 2010
Posted by Astha Ramaiya Wendy Glauser, a journalist from Toronto, recently visited Nyaya’soperations in Achham and wrote about the Safe Motherhood Incentive Program and birthing practices in Nepal. You can read her piece in the Canadian Medical Association Journal which can be accessed here.
Posted in Logistics and Management, Patient Stories, Social Justice and Health on Jul 20th, 2010
Posted by Duncan Maru, MD, PHD In Achham, Nyaya Health’s work seems to be a constant battle against death. After all, we are confronting some of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world. As we have discussed on this blog in our mortality reviews, we so often fall short of our goal. [...]
Posted in Logistics and Management, Mortality Reviews, Patient Stories, Social Justice and Health on Jul 15th, 2010
Posted by Duncan Maru, MD, PHD So often in our work we are confronted by our own inadequacies as a young global health organization — at fundraising, recruiting volunteers, following through on commitments, developing protocols, getting technologies out to Achham. These are felt every moment of every day when we offer less than the highest [...]
Posted in Mortality Reviews, Patient Stories on Jun 7th, 2010
Posted by Duncan Maru, MD, PHD All too often in our work, we are confronted by deaths of young people that are devastating by their impact on families and communities and by the fact of their being so preventable. The death of this young pregnant woman and her child, described below in the mortality report [...]
Posted in Logistics and Management, Patient Stories, Social Justice and Health on Jun 1st, 2010
This is part of a series of guest contributions by authors working for health justice in South Asia. We are pleased to support their work, and encourage our readers to think critically about the connection between our work and theirs. Mental health has historically been neglected both in the developed and developing world. In Nyaya’s [...]
Posted in News, Patient Stories, Reports, Social Justice and Health on May 16th, 2010
Posted by Ryan Schwarz Nepali film-maker Subina Shrestha has produced a new documentary on birthing practices in western Nepal and their effect on women’s health. The production was recently aired in an episode of WITNESS, an Al Jazeera television production. Shrestha explores why Nepal has among the highest rates of maternal mortality in South Asia; [...]
Posted in Logistics and Management, Patient Stories, Social Justice and Health on Apr 8th, 2010
Posted by Astha Ramaiya One of the most entrenched forms of gender inequality in Achham is that of illiteracy. The literacy rate amongst young girls aged six to fifteen is only 16% compared to 54% among boys of the same age group. Adult literacy among women in Achham is an appalling 7% compared to 48% [...]
Posted in Logistics and Management, Patient Stories, Social Justice and Health on Mar 26th, 2010
Posted by Ranju Sharma In early January, The Kathmandu Post reported the death of a woman in the district of Achham during her stay in a “Chhaupadi goth.” She was found dead in the shed on the fifth day of her stay; her eight-month-old son, who stayed with her, was found unconscious. Two weeks before [...]
Posted in Logistics and Management, Patient Stories on Mar 21st, 2010
Posted by Dr. Susan Warren “Bayalpata drowns in the tears of its women.” – unknown Achhami poet, quoted by clinician “A woman might get married at age 12. She gets pregnant right away and hopes for a son. The women work hard and the husband is away most of the time for jobs. He spends [...]
Posted in Patient Stories, Reports, Social Justice and Health, Uncategorized on Dec 10th, 2009
Posted by Dan Schwarz “I have seven girls. I had one boy but he died when he was very young. I’ve been to Dhangadi two times before [for ultrasound diagnostics] but both times they were girls and I got rid of them.” -Excerpted from Dr. Ruma Rajbhandari’s new article in The Nepali Times In the United [...]
Posted in Patient Stories, Social Justice and Health on Nov 19th, 2009
Posted by Dan Schwarz, following conversations with Ruma Rajbhandari In a blog post last month (“Severe Storms in Achham”), we related the story of a two year old girl who had suffered a traumatic head injury after falling from a height of one storey. At the time, we were happy to report that, despite an [...]
Posted in Patient Stories, Social Justice and Health on Sep 1st, 2009
Posted by Bibhav Acharya One of Nyaya Health’s board members, Bibhav Acharya, reflects on a patient’s story from the summer of 2008. She went into cardiac arrest as she was carried into the clinic. The men carrying her said she had been bitten by a snake. We put everything on hold and rushed to assist [...]