UNFPA to launch mobile health camps

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Nepal is to launch mobile reproductive health camps funded by the Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission, to deliver mobile reproductive health services to conflict affected people.

According to the press statement issued by the UN body on Wednesday, the one-year long project will cover six districts in the hills and mountains in the far-western and the mid-western region. The agency expects to serve at least 15, 000 women, men and adolescents affected by conflict.

"This project is highly relevant to ensure that preventive and corrective measures for reproductive health concerns can be provided before they severely limit livelihoods," stresses Junko Sazaki, UNFPA's country representative to Nepal.

The mobile health clinics will provide services like diagnosis, counseling, treatment and referrals of cases to the National Health System, thus addressing potentially life-threatening concerns such as safe family planning and childbirth, emergency obstetric care, gender-based violence and sexually transmitted infections and HIV/Aids. The camps will also provide vital surgical procedures, such as prolapsed uterus correction.

The beneficiaries of this project include not only the users of the health services, but also the local health service providers who will be trained in delivering reproductive health care in crisis settings, the agency said.

The project is part of UNFPA's long-term strategy to improve the reproductive health status of women and to advance women's empowerment. nepalnews.com ia Aug 02 06