Last month, Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel and Pokhara Mayor Dhanraj Acharya were burned when hydrogen-filled balloons exploded at the launch of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/pokhara-s-tourism-woes">Pokhara Visit Year 2025</a>. Both were flown to Kathmandu for treatment. In 2023, Nepali Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Chandra Bhandari was severely burned in a kitchen fire. He was taken to India for treatment. His Rs5.6 million medevac and treatment bill was paid by the government. It took the<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/burning-in-the-aftermath,3757"> burn injuries </a>of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-nepal-s-vip-prisoners-do-in-jail">high-profile figures </a>in Nepal to finally spark action on an issue that affects mainly the country’s poorest. “We call this the burns paradox,” says Kiran Nakarmi at the Nepal Cleft and Burn Centre at Kirtipur Hospital, where the Pokhara patients received care. “Treatment is costly and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19400">most victims are poor</a>."&nbsp; About 60,000 people suffer <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/removing-scars?fbclid=IwAR2MiX-ZhGNSsqUwgDYfvLWE3a7ZeLaHncz66MMKLQGtSSraTjr9cF5mIWo">burn injuries</a> in Nepal each year and 2,200 of them die. The demand for care in Kirtipur is growing.&nbsp; In 2014, it treated 90 <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/A-burning-desire-to-help,881">burn patients</a> and this more than doubled to 194 in 2015, reached 373 in 2016, and peaked at 790 in 2023. Last year the Centre treated 753 patients, and in January alone this year it was 111. Ninety-two percent of cases come from outside Kathmandu from 75 districts,” says Nakarmi. “When we started it was 42%.”&nbsp; Ideally, burns treatment should be decentralised so that local levels have primary <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/altruistic-healthcare-models-in-nepal">burn care centres</a> no more than two hours away, where patients can get initial treatment like cooling and dressing of wounds, and fluid replacement. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/removing-scars?fbclid=IwAR3YJaMAa7AekbmwWYy3UlNnJkDj8XZk8qRxcagXd7Sl0M4m4SzolGs_0ow">Removing Scars</a>, Yugeshwor Koirala If necessary, they could be transferred to regional centres to handle surgery for minor burns. The government has already designated six such facilities across the country, and Nakarmi says the Centre could train their staff. He clicks forward on a slide to show a female patient brought in two months ago with her buttocks and thighs burned. “The wound was deep, it was not going to heal on its own. She needed some kind of graft.” If surgeons at a regional facility were properly trained, they could have done the graft. Instead, the patient waited for one month before coming to Kirtipur.&nbsp; Nakarmi is looking for funding for a 70-bed national burn care centre at Kirtipur Hospital, where patients can be isolated from the risk of infection that comes with sharing space in general wards. Another MP, Bindabasini Kansakar, is herself a<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-acid-attack-survivors-find-a-saviour"> survivor of an acid attack </a>by a spurned suitor in 2013. She registered a Bill in Parliament last year that includes specialised burn units in all <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/devolution-for-development">government hospitals </a>with 100+ beds, and in some private hospitals and medical colleges in Kathmandu. She is also calling on the government to create a fund to give immediate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/justice-delayed-justice-denied-byrx8a1c">financial support to victims </a>and their families, discounts for women and children, especially from poorer communities, as well as training for health staff, twice yearly awareness programmes at local levels, and strong penalties to deter acid attacks and intentional burn injuries. Parliament’s delay in passing the Bill is ‘deeply frustrating, especially given my personal experience,’ Kansakar wrote to us.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250314110312_8d1a63b9d63d2ee0c116ffa1bc46e9a3aa5e63e7cdeeceb5a67fd7e772fbe957.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250314110312_8d1a63b9d63d2ee0c116ffa1bc46e9a3aa5e63e7cdeeceb5a67fd7e772fbe957" data-rendition-name="original" width="1446" height="717" loading="lazy" alt="burn incidents in Nepal"> <figcaption>Member of Parliament Bindabasini Kansakar before an acid attack by a spurred suitor in 2013 (left), after, and now. </figcaption> </figure>  ‘I know first-hand the physical, emotional, and financial struggles<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18771"> burn victims </a>endure. Delays mean more victims are left without proper care, financial support, or legal protection,’ she added. ‘If burns affected wealthier or more influential communities, the response might have been swifter. This inequality is precisely why the Bill is so crucial — to ensure<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/justice-delayed-justice-denied-byrx8a1c"> justice and support for all victims</a>, regardless of their social standing.’ Burn incidents are the second most common injury in rural Nepal, according to the World Health Organization, and researcher Kamal Phuyal says that making just a handful of simple adjustments to everyday life could prevent most major burns. Before <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/ways-nepal-can-rebound-from-covid-19-2966ixvu">Covid-19</a>, he ran a research project in three municipalities in the mountains, hills and Tarai. After six months gathering data, the team told locals to make changes in their communities to prevent burns. For the next two and a half years, Phuyal worked with health staff, female community <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/enlisting-female-health-volunteers-to-fight-covid-19-b4qlgy1e">health volunteers</a> and other locals. In that time, the number of major burns in the three districts dropped from 21 to zero for two years running. The most effective change was to stop people from cooking on the ground. “If you can put the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-s-cooking-in-nepal-besides-politics">cooking stoves</a> just three feet (1m) off the ground, 50% of burns can be eliminated,” explains Phuyal.&nbsp; Nakarmi says that 70% of patients at Kirtipur Hospital, too, got burn injuries in the kitchen. “It should be the safest place to be, but it is the most unsafe,” she adds. Phuyal says<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/deputies-drive-development-in-rural-nepal"> local representatives</a> were convinced by his findings and, especially in Makwanpur, eager to make changes. He expected them to adopt a policy to approve construction of a house only if the plans included putting the cooking space 1m off the ground, to reduce burn incidents, Phuyal explained at a training session at Sushma Koirala Memorial Hospital (SKMH) last October. But <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-uneven-covid-19-deaths">Covid-19</a> hit, the project ended, the officials were replaced after elections, and the work lost momentum. Today, no <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/local-government-by-the-people-for-the-people-of-the-people">local government</a> seems to have moved forward on <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18770">burn prevention</a>. During the training session at SKMH, the hospital’s deputy director, Rojina Shilpakar, described some of the burn cases at the facility in recent months. In Dailekh district, two boys were severely burned while collecting fodder. “The parents all thought that they would die so they didn’t take them for medical help. But after two weeks they survived and the story was posted on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-social-media-contagion">social media</a>.” The hospital reached out and arranged for both boys to be brought to Kathmandu, one to Kirtipur Hospital and the other to SKMH, with burns on 40% of his body. “He was emaciated, just flesh and bones, covered in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/medicine-goes-back-to-its-roots?fbclid=IwAR31DMkL6vtx8KFvX3KG79Jf6omKN8H8VZ0Dr9G-1UWtIBlFHNphMJi8mrY">herbal medicine </a>that looked like mud,” recalls Shilpakar. If he had been brought for treatment quickly, he could have recovered sooner, she adds. But he was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nearly-half-of-nepali-children-still-malnourished">malnourished,</a> and contractures had developed where one part of the body sticks to another, preventing movement. “We couldn’t take him to the operating room right away because of his malnourished condition. He had to gain some weight, increase his haemoglobin levels. Even skin grafts were not taken properly, so it affected the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-art-of-healing">healing,</a>” explains Shilpakar. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/pandemic-of-poverty">Poverty</a> prevents many families from<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/it-s-an-emergency-nepal-needs-to-improve-trauma-care"> seeking care</a>, although both facilities will not turn away burn cases for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/poor-cash-rich-nepal">lack of money</a>. SKMH paid the bills for the Dailekh boys' treatment, including an eight-month hospital stay. Now seven, the youngster has already had a follow-up surgery and is likely to need more operations as he grows. Smaller <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/healthcare-moving-from-hospitals-to-homes">hospitals</a> outside Kathmandu often do not not accept severe burn cases, and instead send them immediately to a larger facility. “If the patient dies within a few hours, they will be blamed, So they just try to push them away,” adds Shilpakar. SKMH has been <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16801">training health workers</a> from across the country to treat burns since 2012. This includes countering the prevalent belief at the time that burn victims should not be given fluids. Patients would reach the centre <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/dirty-dangerous-difficult-and-dehydrating">dehydrated</a>, and then go into acute <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/saving-kidneys-to-save-nepal">kidney failure</a>. Some with a high percentage of burns die. Those cases have decreased in the last few years because <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/nepal-health-workers-at-risk-of-workplace-hazards">health workers </a>have been trained, including to give fluids to patients. The treatment at the Cleft and Burn Centre has become much more effective since it opened in 2014. Says Nakarmi: “Back then we could not save anyone who had 40% burns or greater. Now we can save half of victims with 40% burns, and if someone has 60% burns, they have a 15% chance of survival. We aim to save half of patients with 60% burns.” The centre developed a six-day training for health staff on burns care for workers from facilities country-wide, but funding was provided by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/how-usaid-cut-affects-nepal">USAID</a> and has been cut. There is no replacement in sight. Recent increase in government support for burns treatment seems to have been sparked by the case of MP Bhandari. In October, the government announced free treatment for patients from the<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/why-nepal-s-poverty-rate-is-stuck"> poorest families</a>.&nbsp; “But there is a little catch,” says Nakarmi. “The treatment of destitute burn victims, are supposed to be covered right? But everyone else also wants to get support. A lot of Nepali people are not destitute, but they are poor. We just try to cover their costs as much as possible.”

Marty Logan

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A burning problem that needs solutions

Pritam Kunwar was born with a cleft lip and palate in Pokhara, but his family could not afford treatment for his condition. His face was disfigured, his speech was unintelligible, and the food he ate would often get into his nasal cavity.&nbsp; Finally, at 15 he received cleft surgery, but without post-operative therapy his speech was still impaired. Then one day, at age 26, his life changed. He used to make a living rowing boats at Phewa Lake, where a foreigner hopped on for a ride. He turned out to be a plastic surgeon volunteering in Nepal who referred him to Fishtail Hospital. That is where he met Shankar Man Rai. Kunwar underwent a second surgery, and received speech therapy. Today, he holds a Taekwondo black belt, and runs an academy by Pokhara’s Lakeside, training young women in self-defence. “Before my second surgery, the students at my martial arts academy did not understand a word I said, but after I could speak properly they learnt faster,” recalls Kunwar.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080844_7e557a7682a0bc504237ed5cf9b1b6082ecf346ee34a541c43ae00d25377a2d2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20230804080844_7e557a7682a0bc504237ed5cf9b1b6082ecf346ee34a541c43ae00d25377a2d2" data-rendition-name="original" width="7238" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Removing scars 2"> <figcaption>Pritam Kunwar was born with a cleft lip and palate in Pokhara. After two surgeries and speech therapy, he now runs a Taekwondo academy training women in self defence.(Photo: Jana Ašenbrennerová)</figcaption> </figure>  On average, one out of every 500 live births in Nepal is a case of cleft lip or palate, birth deformities in which the lip or palate fail to fuse. Incidence in Nepal is higher than in most parts of the world for reasons which are unclear, but may have to do with a combination of genetic and environmental factors.&nbsp; However, the numbers afflicted are going down due to awareness and treatment at the <a href="https://nepalcleftandburncenter.org/">Nepal Cleft and Burn Center</a> at Kirtipur overlooking Kathmandu.&nbsp; “Before the 1980s, cleft and burn treatment through plastic surgery was unheard of in the country,” explains Shankar Man Rai, who is now a plastic surgeon and director of the Kirtipur centre. “International volunteer teams carried out the procedures, while Nepali doctors remained under-equipped.” Since then, Rai’s team has seen that scenario change. Improved awareness of the condition means parents bring their children for treatment to the 30-bed Centre almost as soon as they are born.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080844_56ba408f9cd1b497374609fc6002f6a5412b99432d4aff498f8f8fca81445e6d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230804080844_56ba408f9cd1b497374609fc6002f6a5412b99432d4aff498f8f8fca81445e6d" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Removing scars"> <figcaption>Shankar Man Rai(Photo: Jana Ašenbrennerová)</figcaption> </figure>  Nepali paediatric and general surgeons were trained by the international teams, and for over 25 years Rai’s team has been treating thousands of burn and cleft patients free of cost. The facility is funded by two non-profits, ReSurge International and Smile Train. The facility at Kirtipur was inaugurated in 2014, but the <a href="https://nepalcleftandburncenter.org/">Cleft and Burn Center </a>was initiated in 2002 by American textile retailer Jim Webber after meeting Rai in Nepal. Webber ran the Tibet Rug company, and organised financial support from other rug importers from Nepal to help fund the project.&nbsp; Since then, the Center has been Nepal’s first and leading teaching hospital specialising in deformity-correction surgery. Today, it is being run by Kirtipur Municipality and the non-profit <a href="https://www.phectnepal.org/">Public Health Concern Trust Nepal (phect-NEPAL)</a>, providing free treatment not just to patients at the centre but through camps in remote parts of the country.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080844_a5ba78663011d44d14e8c3f4d8dccbf4eb23c07d9d5dd7770187c4788023878b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20230804080844_a5ba78663011d44d14e8c3f4d8dccbf4eb23c07d9d5dd7770187c4788023878b" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="Removing scars"> <figcaption>Photo: PHECT NEPAL</figcaption> </figure>  Kiran Nakarmi is the head of the Department of Burns, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Kirtipur Hospital who worked with Rai to set up the centre. He says a cleft lip is easily recognised in infants, and can now even be diagnosed via ultrasound before birth. “Timely treatment is important because it yields better speech outcomes,” Nakarmi explains. “Our focus is on comprehensive care. Surgery alone is not enough, it needs follow-up with speech and occupational therapy and counseling.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080848_ee0057f9cd2d17d2834babd2164720028ef66b3d41fec3199246d7e21b2d4d91.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20230804080848_ee0057f9cd2d17d2834babd2164720028ef66b3d41fec3199246d7e21b2d4d91" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Remioving scars 6"> <figcaption>Kiran Nakarmi looks at a patient.(Photo: Jana Ašenbrennerová)</figcaption> </figure>  The Kirtipur center’s camps have reached many rural parts of Nepal, impacting more than 20,000 cleft patients. Initially, speech therapists used to go to the camps but now has trained nurses like Kabita Bhattarai Gurung to carry out the same task.&nbsp; The outreach camps provide free food, lodging, orthodontic treatment, parental counseling, and speech therapy to patients, a model which Rai says can be replicated globally.&nbsp; The caseload for cleft palates has fallen sharply and the Kiritpur center which used to carry out up to 1,200 cleft operations a year till a decade ago now performs half that.&nbsp; <h2>Burning need</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080844_9a3c5a83db7f5f9ef918acbe1093472f7c9c2c6e9266078038b34420e00208bf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20230804080844_9a3c5a83db7f5f9ef918acbe1093472f7c9c2c6e9266078038b34420e00208bf" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Removing scars"> </figure>  But with the decline in cleft cases, there has been a growing need to treat burn patients at Kirtipur.&nbsp; Bhesh, 14, was playing in his home in western Nepal when he heard his mother shriek from the kitchen. She was cooking when the open fire spread and engulfed the house.&nbsp; Read Also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/burning-in-the-aftermath,3757">Burning in the aftermath,</a> Sahina Shrestha Four days later, both Bhesh and his mother arrived at Nepal Cleft and Burn Center. The long ride had been excruciating, and with burns over 30% of her body, his mother died shortly after. Bhesh went through several surgeries and skin grafts. Over a third of the patients admitted to the Centre are children, and half are women.&nbsp; “We think that the home is the safest place, but that is where most burn injuries occur,” says Rai. “The proportion of children with burns at the Center shot up to over 40% during the pandemic. At home they were more at risk.” Rural women are exposed to open fires, and children suffer because they are largely unsupervised in high-hazard settings. Disfigured burn patients have to deal with social stigma because they are seen as a sign of bad luck.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080848_0f27d63b1f3a521c61cdb69bc45799d40ba1bea94c60d094cab9e6b5d7279035.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20230804080848_0f27d63b1f3a521c61cdb69bc45799d40ba1bea94c60d094cab9e6b5d7279035" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Removing scars"> </figure>  The Center also treats burn violence usually perpetrated against women in the homes of in-laws, and this adds to the count of the 110 people who die of burns each year in Nepal. “Burns survivors in Nepal need more support,” says<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18771"> Wendy Marston, co-founder and advisor of Burns Violence Survivors (BVS) Nepal</a>. “Small acts of kindness from all of us, such as the spreading of education, and charitable giving, can go far in helping these survivors and patients.” BVS Nepal works with underserved patients in over 12 hospitals, providing funds for their treatment, therapy, and setting up businesses for survivors. Its prevention approach is shared by the Burn and Cleft Center which also holds burn awareness camps for community health workers and local people. “For household burns, awareness is surely the first step towards prevention,” Rai says. “But we can’t simply tell people what to do if they don’t have the means to act.” A WHO study shows that burns are the second most common injury in rural Nepal, accounting for 5% of disabilities in the country,&nbsp; Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tsering-sumjok-is-all-right">Tsering Sumjok is all right</a>, Sahina Shrestha “When we first started treating burns, we began with disabilities caused by post-burn contractures,” explains Nakarmi. “If the wound is in a place such as a joint, this causes the patient to lose mobility.”&nbsp; The Kirtipur team prioritises comprehensive care for burn contractures. But unlike with cleft palates, they failed to see any decline in the caseload even after years of effort. Rai says this is because burn survivors are not getting the treatment needed. Surgeons hope that using flaps and grafts they can reduce the occurrence of contractures. Nepal’s difficult geography keeps patients like Bhesh from quickly receiving care. Burn survivors from all over the country are referred to the few specialised centres in Kathmandu, but there is usually a long waiting list and it takes weeks before a doctor can see them.&nbsp; The Kirtipur Center has largely succeeded in minimising waits by enabling surgeons to go to patients instead of the other way around. This means patients at the Center receive the surgery they need within days of being admitted.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080852_34cfa9c4509717fa9b1fb8ff4184effa8d3e8d199b834ffae5ca43c117dd6611.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20230804080852_34cfa9c4509717fa9b1fb8ff4184effa8d3e8d199b834ffae5ca43c117dd6611" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Removing scar"> </figure>  But there are challenges. “Your treatment is not possible here,” were the words that Nepali Congress leader Chandra Bhandari heard at the Nepal Burn and Cleft Center where he was rushed there after suffering severe burn wounds in a gas cylinder explosion in February. Bhandari was eventually medevaced to Mumbai where he was successfully treated.&nbsp; “It is unfair that any Nepali should have to go abroad for burn treatment,” Bhandari told Nepali Times. “Our surgeons are the best in the world, yet they have had to rely solely on individual and community effort. The government urgently needs to support the surgeons, and I pledge to do what I can.”&nbsp; There are only 30-40 reconstructive plastic surgeons in the country, eight of them at Kirtipur, which offers a residency program for reconstructive plastic surgery affiliated with the National Academy of Medical Sciences program at Bir Hospital, whose curriculum was developed by Rai.&nbsp; While cosmetic plastic surgery is a booming profession in Nepal, the niche dedicated to burns treatment has not got the attention it deserves. Kirtipur Hospital, for instance, only has seven ICU beds, The country’s only skin bank at the Center has got only 31 donations in the nine years since it was set up.&nbsp; Read Also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/A-burning-desire-to-help,881">A burning desire to help</a>, Kunda Dixit With little government support, the Center mostly runs on international help for free treatment to about 600 patients a year. But even as its focus shifts from clefts to burns, international assistance is skewed in favour of cleft palates.&nbsp; “We get more donations than we need for clefts,” Rai reveals. “Burns are where we need greater investment, but because they are more expensive and complex, and have higher odds of ending in mortality, there is less interest from donors.” Not only is the government not providing needed help, its bureaucracy puts up obstacles every step of the way. Kirtipur Municipality received a donation of Rs2,900,000 for urgent burn treatment supplies. But red tape has delayed delivery. The Center now has an ambitious plan to establish a sustainable fund for free burns treatment by encouraging donations from well-to-do local Nepalis and the diaspora. The goal is not to have to turn to international donors for money. The Nepal Cleft and Burn Center will soon open a branch in Itahari of Sunsari district with the same level of care as Kirtipur.&nbsp; Says Nakarmi: “We don’t need big, lavish burn hospitals all over the country. We need a lot more primary burn centers where rural patients can receive immediate care, and then be referred to the larger centers if need be.” Nepal has seen major improvements in burn and cleft palate surgeries in recent years thanks to doctors like Rai and Nakarmi. Says Rai: “I am sure we will see a day when no patient seeking treatment in Nepal has to live with scars, both figuratively, and literally.”&nbsp;

Removing Scars

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203b79c7e80680e0b2821jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="695"/><figcaption>Tsering Sumjok Gurung with German plastic surgeon André Borsche (left) and Peter Hinze (right). Borsche had treated her childhood injury at the Sushma Koirala Memorial Hospital in Kathmandu. All photos courtesy: PETER HINZE</figcaption></figure>Last November, in the waiting room of a hospital in Bad Kreuznach in Germany, Tsering Sumjok Gurung caught glimpse of a familiar face.The tall man with graying hair and moustache was wearing a white coat over a yellow jumper. He was none other than plastic surgeon André Borsche who had treated her horrific childhood burn injury at the <a href="https://www.skmt.org.np">Sushma Koirala Memorial</a> Hospital in Kathmandu ten years previously.“It was an emotional reunion for both of us,” Tsering, now 23, remembers. “He was very friendly and wanted to see how my injuries had healed.”Tsering was 18 months old that summer when her family made the annual migration up to high pasture to graze their yaks. One day, while her mother was tending the livestock, Tsering fell off her crib right into the fireplace. She was badly burnt on her back, and right arm.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/A-burning-desire-to-help,881">A burning desire to help</a>, Kunda Dixit<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203ba9c7e80680e0b2822jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="308" height="462">There were no doctors in her village of Bhijer, so she was treated for the next four years by the local <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/I-am-an-amchi,3349" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">amchi healer</a>. This kept her alive, but the skin on her right arm was fused with the torso. All her childhood, Tsering was carried around in a doko bamboo basket.“Burns are common in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dazzling-dolpo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dolpo</a> because home life revolves around the kitchen fire,” says Tsering. “I was lucky.”Despite being painful to move around, Tsering started going to school in Bhijer and excelled in studies. In Grade 2, a group of wealthy American and Swiss trekkers visited the school that they had supported. They noticed Tsering, examined her injuries, and helped bring her to Kathmandu for school and treatment. Over the years, the two families have also funded a hospital and a cheese factory in the village.Tsering used to watch her classmates in Kathmandu run and play, or dance in school programs, but could not participate because of her injury. She was eventually admitted to the Sushma Koirala Hospital, which is supported by INTERPLAST-Germany, where André Borsche and his team performed five major operations with reconstructive surgery. Every week, she had to make a painful bus ride from her dorm in Boudha to the hospital in Sankhu for physiotherapy and follow-ups.She missed many classes, but she made up for it by reading books which inspired her to become a doctor, so she could serve her community in Dolpo. Not able to afford higher education, in 2017 she started working as a hostel warden at a school in Chobar.That is when she met German journalist Peter Hinze who was researching his first book on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Himalaya-Trail/dp/3957281377" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Himalaya-Trail/dp/3957281377&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1641892465582000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3DjWYFudXKEdEQ0H4UlQmW">The Great Himalayan Trail, </a>and Tsering later travelled with him to Upper Dolpo to make a film with herself as the lead character.Tsering was back in Bhijer for the first time in ten years, and her family and neighbours were surprised how much she had grown and changed. Her injuries were not visible anymore, and no one could believe that a little girl who had such terrible injuries would be so transformed.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18771#.Ydv72C8w3u0">Lending a hand</a>, Nepali Times“I met the right people who helped me get treatment otherwise my life would have been different,” Tsering says. “Even now, there are many children in my neighbouring villages who are not as fortunate.”The film project was cancelled because of the pandemic, but Hinze converted the research into the book 100000 Schritte zum Glück about Dolpo, and invited Tsering to Germany for the unveiling in November. The book made it to number 4 on Amazon's best seller list in Germany.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203bd9c7e80680e0b2823jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="169" height="242">And he had a surprise in store – a meeting with the surgeon who had treated her in Kathmandu all those years ago. It was an emotional and joyful reunion.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203bf9c7e80680e0b2824jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="641"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“This was one of the best days in my 26-year career, when I could see the wonderful result of our charity work,” said André Borsche.Tsering was equally happy: “I made it from my family stone hut in Bhijer to the hospital in Germany to meet the surgeon who changed my life.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-acid-attack-survivors-find-a-saviour/">Nepal’s acid attack survivors find a saviour</a>, Sabina Devkota<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203c19c7e80680e0b2825jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000">In the hospital, Borsche examined her burn scars and was satisfied with how well her back had healed. He suggested one more operation, but Tsering refused any more treatment.“I am over medical procedures for now,” Tsering told Nepali Times on her return from Germany. “After all those surgeries, I am put off by the sight of blood. I don’t want to think about the pain afterwards. For now I think I am ok.”These days, when Tsering is not busy with her full-time work at the Chobar school, she helps Hinze with Project Dolpo, a private initiative to help those who need assistance in her home district. She gets frequent calls from families in Dolpo who are in distress.Says Hinze: “I think this is a motivating story about a girl who never gave up, and who trusted herself. It shows how when help gets to the right people, the underprivileged and the almost forgotten, it can make a big difference to their lives.”This past week in Kathmandu, Tsering has been busy taking a seven-year-old boy from Dolpo who was also badly burnt with boiling water, and was brought to Kathmandu for treatment. Tsering has been taking the patient to the burns hospital in Kirtipur for medical attention.“It happened to me, and now to this boy. These accidents occur so frequently and Upper Dolpo just does not have the facilities to treat burn injuries,” says Tsering.For now, she wants to complete her education and ultimately return to Dolpo: “I feel it is my responsibility to give back to my community. The only way my village is going to develop is when young people like me get educated, and head back to help others like us. There is so much to do.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-prolonged-trauma-of-acid-attack-survivors/">The prolonged trauma of acid attack survivors</a>, Laxmi Basnet

Sahina Shrestha

Tsering Sumjok is all right

A little more than one month into its six-month term, Nepal's interim government recalled ambassadors from 11 countries: China, Japan, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Russia, Spain, Germany, the UK, the US, and Japan.&nbsp;
Mostly appointed by previous governments, they have to return to Kathmandu by 6 November. The envoys who were retained, even if they were political appointees, tended to be women or from various ethnic minorities.
The recall has met with criticism back home. Prime Minister Sushila Karki is blamed for borrowing a page out of its predecessors’ playbook. Although it was a symbolically inclusive move in a diplomatic corps dominated by established groups, the government may have got its timing wrong.
On Sunday, however, the Supreme Court issued an interim order against government decision to recall the 11 ambassadors. The court questioned the neccesssity and justification of such a move, concerned that it could affect Nepal's relations with the host countries.&nbsp;
Karki has said <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/future-imperfect">her priority is to hold elections in March</a>, and by recalling Nepal’s emissaries from important capitals like Washington, London, Bonn, Tokyo, Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur her government has cut channels of communication and support from development partners and with the international community.&nbsp;
Nepal’s anti-corruption GenZ protest and the devolution of the youth movement into <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/relocate-reallocate-recover">arson, looting, and violence</a> after the targeted killing of protestors in September put the nation in the international spotlight. And the interest was especially keen in neighbouring New Delhi and Beijing.&nbsp;
The Nepal unrest has sparked similar protests across the world from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-genzs-inspired-filipinos">the Philippines</a> to East Timor, Madagascar and Peru. But there is also worry in India where exposure of #nepokids on social media as well as corruption in high places could instigate copycat youth unrest.
And in China, there is still a lingering memory of the deadly protests in 1989 Tiananmen Square. But the Chinese also suspect that some in the GenZ movement have links to free-Tibet. &nbsp;
Foreign policy experts in Nepal reject conspiracy theories about foreign backing for the GenZ, characterising it as mostly triggered by home-grown outrage over chronic corruption of the governing elite.&nbsp;
Throughout its history Nepal has always had to balance the geo-strategic interests of its neighbours: the British in India and the Chinese Empire, and more recently independent India and Communist China.
When former PM K P Oli resigned, he had <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/when-xi-meets-modi-and-oli">just returned from a visit to Beijing</a> and was a week away from making an official visit to India. A new Nepali prime minister typically makes the first visit to India, but Oli broke that tradition last year by going to China to sign the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework agreement.
"Oli was China's trusted partner supporting <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/china-syndrome">Nepal’s participation in BRI</a> and SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization)," says geopolitical analyst Sanjay Upadhya. "Now, some in Beijing are apprehensive that there is external support for the youth protests that contributed to Oli’s sudden departure. It is perceived as a strategic setback for China."
Despite an ongoing dispute with India over a 364 sq km border territory, Nepal is heavily dependent economically on India with which it has an open border.&nbsp;
Rulers in Kathmandu have usually leaned over backwards to be closer to China to counterbalance India’s gravitational pull following a strategy of ‘equidistance’ between the two giant neighbours.&nbsp;
Growing American and Western disinterest in the region is making India and China more assertive towards smaller nations. Educator Dovan Rai says, “China is also becoming more aggressive and trying to show its presence in and around South Asia.”
She adds, “Nepal is an important neighbour for China, especially considering issues it regards as sensitive, like the Dalai Lama and Tibet.”
Indeed, the Chinese are said to be suspicious about the links that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-historic-youth-dissensus">GenZ movement</a> was infiltrated by elements linked with Free Tibet or with US-based interests.&nbsp;
What must have especially raised eyebrows at the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu was that the Dalai Lama’s office in exile in India congratulated Sushila Karki — the first time in history it has sent such a greeting to a new prime minister of Nepal.&nbsp;
Although Nepal’s two neighbours do not see eye-to-eye, both agree and are worried about instability in Nepal, and if it might trigger a refugee crisis, empower extremist factions, or attract Western interference.&nbsp;
Nepal’s September protests were preceded and succeeded by similar movements in the region and around the world. In light of this global eruption of youth frustration, and desire to lead from the front, the hardline governments of Nepal’s two neighbours are undoubtedly wary of the possibility of similar unrest within their own borders.&nbsp;
‘India advocates democratic legitimacy, while China prioritises control and predictability. Recent upheavals demonstrate that neither democracy nor stability alone suffices for sustainable nationhood,’ Upadhya wrote in a recent blog.
With early elections scheduled for 5 March, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/one-month-later">the main challenge for Karki’s transition government</a> is to maintain dialogue and establish consensus between youth groups, political parties, and other agitating forces to participate in polls — all while ensuring there is no covert external influence.&nbsp;
Indeed, with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-democracy-keeps-doubting-itself">Nepal’s democracy</a> at stake as well as new political forces with competing interests set to battle it out in a new political landscape, experts warn that there could be powers that will want to fish in troubled waters.&nbsp;
Explains Dovan Rai: “Along with soft power, foreign countries including our neighbours could intervene in the online information space to promote their interests in Nepal. Fake narratives and disinformation could be spread &nbsp;through digital platforms. We must be careful and vigilant about our digital space.”

Neighbourhood watch on Nepal

Climber, expedition leader and later a supplier of bottled oxygen to Himalayan mountaineers, Henry Barclay Todd died on 3 November 2025 in his favourite place on earth, Kathmandu.&nbsp;
Todd was larger than life, a metaphor often used, yet it could not be more fitting. Standing nearly 2m tall, and possessing an unshakeable will, he lived life on a grand scale, both in body and spirit.&nbsp;
Todd was a pillar in the Himalayan climbing community, supporting many mountaineers across Nepal and Pakistan, making it possible for them to fulfil the dream of standing on the world’s highest peaks. He believed deeply in the strength, skill, and potential of the Sherpa people, and offered them opportunities that might otherwise have remained out of reach.&nbsp;
“Thank you, Henry. Your trust changed my life. Rest in peace, my leader, my teacher, my friend,” said Dorjee Gyelzen Sherpa in his tribute.
Born in 1945 to Royal Air Force officer Henry Todd and May Todd of the Women’s Royal Air Force, Henry spent his early years in Singapore. He led a lively childhood with his two brothers, far removed from the mountains that would later define his path.&nbsp;
A gifted swimmer like his father, Henry never pursued the sport professionally. Instead, after returning to Dundee as a teenager and attending seven different schools, he set off for London, where he began working for an insurance company before finding his true calling in adventure.
Henry Todd first came to Nepal in the mid-1980s and made his first attempt on Ama Dablam in 1987, an expedition that marked the beginning of an extraordinary and colourful climbing career. <a href="https://www.himalayandatabase.com/" target="_blank">The Himalayan Database</a> lists 61 expeditions that he led in Nepal alone — there were more in the Karakoram, Argentina and the Alps.&nbsp;
But Todd would joyfully say that a few hard Scottish ascents held a more personal meaning to him than even the greatest Himalayan summits.
Over the decades, he crossed paths with many legendary climbers like Anatoli Boukreev, Jerzy Kukuczka, Doug Scott and Chris Bonington as well as celebrities including members of Pink Floyd and Nobel Prize laureates whom he befriended.&nbsp;
He had a gift to never name-drop, but would simply mention that he had had lunch with Minnie Driver (niece of his long-time friend Andra) or that he had bought his first car from Donald Sutherland. For Todd, these were not bragging rights, they were simply part of the colourful tapestry of his life.
Todd’s life was filled with extraordinary experiences from surviving plane crashes, avalanches and earthquakes to quietly solving countless problems, which was one of his favourite past-times. His hands, famously large and steady, were always ready to help whether in the chaos of the mountains or the calm of a base camp.&nbsp;
With his sharp sense of humour and the beloved exclamation “Whoopie!”,he could bring lightness even to the toughest moments. He never tired of taking on challenges or helping when someone was in need, and he enriched so many people’s lives with his endless stories.
His legacy is immense. He helped build the human backbone of Himalayan climbing, enabling generations of climbers to test themselves in the world’s highest places. With his passing, an era of bold, spirited Himalayan guiding has come to a close.
Todd survived by a loving family, many close friends and a global community of climbers and Sherpas who will never forget him and his endless tales.&nbsp;
His family said in a statement: ‘Henry’s strength, warmth and unyielding belief in others will live on far above the clouds. He was indestructible in our eyes and in our hearts, he always will be.’
There will be a memorial service at Pashupati Temple in Kathmandu on 8 November 2025 around lunchtime.

Henry Barclay Todd, 80

The autumn mountaineering season is not over yet, and already there have been 12 fatalities on Himalayan peaks in Nepal.
Of the 1,450 climbing permits issued, 436 were for Mt Ama Dablam (6,812m), 374 for Mt Manaslu (8,163m) and 186 for Himlung Himal (7,126m). There were deaths on all three mountains.
The death of two French climbers on Ama Dablam happened before unseasonal blizzards hit the mountains. But Cyclone Montha from the Bay of Bengal brought on high winds and up to 1m of snow in the peak trekking and mountaineering season.
This increased avalanche conditions, and made helicopter evacuation of stranded and injured climbers difficult. Lower down the mountains, more than 1,000 trekkers from Nepal and around the world were stuck in the Annapurnas, Manaslu circuit and the Khumbu.
However, there have also been allegations that it was not just the weather that delayed rescues. Multiple levels of bureaucracy and the need for flight permits to restricted areas like Manang and Manaslu critically delayed evacuation flights.
Italian climbers Farronato Stefano and Caputo Alessandro were found dead in their tent at Panbari Himal Camp I (6,887m) in the Manaslu area. They had been trapped by heavy snowfall since 28 October, and their bodies were found on 4 November by a team from the expedition organisers, Sherpa Alpine Trekking Service. The team was made up of high level mountain guides and expedition leader Valter Perlino.
The team had been climbing to Camp 3 but decided to descend to base camp because of thrombosis in Perlino’s left foot. The two climbers who would eventually get trapped decided to break at Camp I, a decision that would prove fatal after the projected six-day snowfall arrived two days early.
“They were sleeping in a tent and were buried under 2.5 metres of compacted snow. It happened during the night between Thursday and Friday. While they were sleeping, absurd,” said Perlino.
A deadly incident took place the morning of 3 November, when five foreigners and two Nepalis died in an avalanche on Yalung Ri at 5,630m in the Rolwaling. They were part of a larger group of 15 that were acclimatising for an attempt on the nearby Dolma Khang (6,332m).
Local authorities in Gauri Shankar Conservation Area say calls were immediately made to helicopter companies as well as various ministries in Kathmandu that have to issue permits to fly to the region bordering China.
But the permits for rescue flights to Rolwaling Valley were delayed by eight hours. Rescue flights in these areas require permission from the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Defence, the Home Ministry, and the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
Experts say this should be exempted in times of emergency when time is of the essence. CAAN spokesperson Pratap Babu Tiwari claimed to not know of the avalanche on Yalung Ri and deflected questions to the permission department.&nbsp;
There was a similar tragedy on Himlung Himal in Manang as well. Australian Chin-Tark Chan, 49, was climbing with 8K Expeditions and fell ill on 27 October at about 6,800m, developing snow blindness and loss of mobility. The guides immediately called the US insurance company Global Rescue for authorisation of a longline rescue.
Global Rescue refused, saying a rescue at that height would violate Nepal’s aviation rules and put the pilot at unacceptable risk. They asked the guides to transport Chan to Camp 3 at 6,400m to a permitted altitude. Seeing it was a life-or-death situation for its client, 8K called in an aerial rescue anyway, but the helicopter could not land due to bad weather. Chan died slightly below Camp 3 on 29 October.
Global Rescue said in a statement that it was ready to send in a helicopter after Chan had been transported to Camp 3, but several hours were lost for that attempt, and the weather did not get better in the next few days.
To underscore just how dangerous helicopter rescues in the Himalaya can be in bad weather, a chopper from Altitude Air skidded off the helipad at Lobuche below Mt Everest while trying to rescue trekkers in whiteout conditions.&nbsp;
CAAN announced a ban on flights during blizzards or dense fog. While rescue missions are often heroic and courageous, they should not be foolhardy if conditions are unsafe and the risk to pilots and rescuers too high. This autumn was a lesson for future expeditions and for the Nepal government.&nbsp;
The Italian duo on Panbari were caught out by snow that arrived two days ahead of schedule, but the group on Yalung Ri should have postponed their ascent after multiple warnings from the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology to avoid high altitudes.

Deadly autumn in Himalayan climbing

Traditional donors have sharply scaled back their aid commitments to developing countries over the past year. Some, like the United States, have virtually eliminated their aid programs. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), official development assistance (ODA) from member countries <a href="https://www.oecd.org/en/about/news/press-releases/2025/04/official-development-assistance-2024-figures.html" target="_blank">declined by 7.1%</a> in 2024, its first annual drop in six years. This trend was not limited to a few major donors. Of the 33 members of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC), 22 slashed their aid budgets, and only four countries met the United Nations’ target of allocating 0.7% of gross national income to ODA. The outlook for the coming year offers little hope for improvement, as major DAC donors have announced additional cuts. Most notably, US President Donald Trump’s administration has suspended most foreign aid and dismantled the Agency for International Development (USAID), which dispersed most US government aid dollars. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom plans to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyrkkv4gd7o" target="_blank">reduce aid spending</a> from 0.5% of GNI to 0.3% by 2027. Similar retrenchment across Europe and North America is reshaping international assistance, disrupting humanitarian and climate-related programs, and creating financing gaps in critical sectors such as health, education, and clean energy. In our 2017 book <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/going-beyond-aid/B48F59C6D8D2790D403A1A0C44B37612" target="_blank">Going Beyond Aid</a>, we urged developing-country governments to reduce their dependence on foreign aid, not only because it was becoming an unreliable source of funding, but also because other, better ways of financing development were becoming more available. That message is more urgent than ever. As reliance on aid becomes untenable, the international community must mobilise a broader array of financing sources to advance green and sustainable growth. This includes national development banks, industrial investment funds, sovereign wealth funds, and institutional investment in public markets, as well as innovative mechanisms such as debt swaps and public-private partnerships (PPPs). These tools can unlock domestic resources, attract long-term investors, and create synergies between public goals and private capital. Equity investment offers a promising avenue for engaging non-traditional development partners while reducing developing countries’ dependence on debt. Government investment funds, public and private financial institutions, and other private actors can participate by taking equity stakes in public enterprises, financing infrastructure projects, or joining PPPs. Such participation not only alleviates debt burdens but also improves the performance and management of public assets. As government-funded, mission-driven institutions, public development banks (PDBs) have the potential to provide patient capital for green and sustainable investment in emerging and developing economies (EMDEs). Building on the <a href="http://www.dfidatabase.pku.edu.cn/index.htm" target="_blank">pioneering database</a> of public development and financial institutions created by the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University, future research can identify effective ways to harness these institutions to fuel low-carbon growth. Responding to growing demand from the economies of the Global South, development partners have increasingly adopted an “entire value chain” approach to the green transition in recent years. This strategy facilitates transfers of low-carbon technologies, diffusion of digital innovations (including trade in services), and industrial modernisation, enabling countries included in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to accelerate their shift toward sustainable development. Empirical research supports this approach. An analysis covering 139 countries <a href="https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-first-evidence-of-a-take-off-in-solar-in-africa/" target="_blank">finds</a> that, following policy directives to incorporate green and low-carbon principles into the BRI, carbon intensity (CO₂ emissions per unit of GDP) among participating countries declined significantly between 2013 and 2022. These findings are consistent with another <a href="https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-first-evidence-of-a-take-off-in-solar-in-africa/" target="_blank">recent study</a> showing how China’s solar-energy expansion has helped transform Africa’s power sector. Investment in infrastructure and industrial development can also generate positive spillover effects. Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jors.70023" target="_blank">shows</a> that the presence of at least one Chinese-financed infrastructure project in a second-order administrative region (comparable to a municipality) is associated with a 5% increase in nighttime luminosity – a widely used proxy for economic activity. Neighbouring regions experienced a 10-15% rise in luminosity, indicating that the benefits of such projects extend well beyond the immediate investment site.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251104131124_1a11d248a89b0785bc7d7f1d9f721e7e7a2563cbd579c3c672a0900220c19171.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20251104131124_1a11d248a89b0785bc7d7f1d9f721e7e7a2563cbd579c3c672a0900220c19171" data-rendition-name="original" width="720" height="405" loading="lazy" alt="development aid and China"></figure>  These outcomes underscore the critical role of infrastructure investment, particularly in energy and transportation projects. By improving electricity access, affordability, and connectivity, they reduce energy poverty, bolster public services, and stimulate economic activity in underserved areas. To meet the evolving challenges of development finance, both traditional and non-traditional donors and creditors should move beyond aid and adopt multidimensional strategies that combine trade, investment, infrastructure, green technology, and digital connectivity, including fintech solutions, to support EMDEs. Importantly, such collaborations should be viewed as a mutual learning process in which partners assume complementary roles and shared responsibilities. To be sure, there have been missteps along the way. China’s financing of coal-fired power plants before 2021, for example, had slowed reduction in CO₂ emissions. But these outcomes, once recognised as policy errors, can help strengthen accountability and foster self-correcting mechanisms within the international development ecosystem. Through ongoing learning and adaptation, global partners can build a more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable framework for development finance. © <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/">Project Syndicate</a> Justin Yifu Lin, a former World Bank chief economist and Senior VP, is the honorary dean of the National School of Development and director of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University. Yan Wang is Senior Academic Researcher at Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center.