One in every three Nepalis carries the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/tb-or-not-tb">tuberculosis</a> bacillus. There may be no active symptoms, but they can at any point progree into a full blown infection. TB kills up to 47 Nepalis daily. If so many people died every day in road traffic accidents, it would make headlines every day. But they do not because tuberculosis afflicts the poorest people in the poorest parts of Nepal.&nbsp; The annual 17,000 fatalities from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/for-nepal-a-game-changer-in-tb-control">tuberculosis in Nepal</a> are preventable with cost-effective treatment. A new pilot study in Chitwan and Piuthan in the past two years showed that 1,160 (out of 1,173 household contacts) completed the Tuberculin Skin Test (Mantoux Test) of whom 542 (45%) were positive. After doing a chest x-ray, 509 met the eligibility criteria for TB preventive therapy. 500 (97%) gave consent to the treatment.&nbsp; Researchers were pleasantly surprised. As in other countries in the region, they were expecting very few to agree to take preventive therapy medicines because they did not have TB symptoms, so a 95% agreeing to the treatment was exceptionally high. “People in Chitwan and Piuthan who participated in the study were not sick, they were just carrying the TB bacteria, but they agreed to take the preventive drugs because they have all known of relatives who had died of TB,” explains Buddha Basnyat, a physician who advised the Birat Nepal Medical Trust (BNMT) that conducted the research.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240325030340_43b4bc93b22c3964ee021a9dc9df40f9da783917b2ebfbe798a03a82276421a7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240325030340_43b4bc93b22c3964ee021a9dc9df40f9da783917b2ebfbe798a03a82276421a7" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="Tuberculosis preventive therapy in Nepal"> <figcaption>Health care volunteers during an outreach screening program in Dhanusha as part of active case-finding for tuberculosis in local communities.</figcaption> </figure>  BNMT is now extending the study to Nawalparasi and Rupandehi with the National Tuberculosis Control Centre. Latent TB is more prevalent in the Tarai districts because of their higher population density. With Nepal suffering such an <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-tb-cases-grossly-underestimated">enormous disease burden from tuberculosis</a>, one would have thought World TB Day on Sunday 25 March would have got more attention. But it was overshadowed by Holi celebrations. It would have been interesting to see how many in the crowds attending the concert at Darbar Marg would test positive. Scientists worry that the World Health Organisation’s END TB strategy of reducing global tuberculosis incidence by 90% and deaths by 95% in the next ten years is too ambitious unless latent tuberculosis cases are also treated.&nbsp; What makes this failure all the more tragic is that tuberculosis is a completely preventable and treatable infection. Every $1 invested in TB gives a $39 return, yet there is little investment and advocacy to combat this biblical illness. South Asia accounts for some 40% of all TB cases and 38% of all TB deaths — most of them occurring in the thickly-populated states across the Nepal border in India. The region also has a high burden of multi-drug resistant TB, one-third of global cases. In the past, Directly Observed Therapy Short Course (DOTS) drug therapy in which patients were administered medicines at health posts was considered a cure-all for tuberculosis. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=294">Nepal had a high success rate for DOTS</a>, but there were loopholes in the program: latent cases remained hidden and only the cases that came to the health system were treated. DOTS also added to the pre-existing stigma so that patients travelling to the health posts would be identified as having tuberculosis. In one instance, a patient in Bardia chose to take a dangerous tiger-infested jungle route to reach the health post. &nbsp; Meanwhile, BNMT had been setting up a strong community network of health volunteers, and was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-tests-and-treats-tb-with-a-flying-pharmacy">tracking active TB cases</a>. Unlike DOTS, it involved meeting family and friends of patients, allowing more case detection and treatment. Even so, they were not looking for latent infections.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240325030340_39b79cbd0799bee83a8ae67fd8016d9c75b539d89679e5a4328a7b8540bbca01.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240325030340_39b79cbd0799bee83a8ae67fd8016d9c75b539d89679e5a4328a7b8540bbca01" data-rendition-name="original" width="1687" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="Tuberculosis preventive therapy in Nepal"> <figcaption>Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) have played a significant role in active case finding.</figcaption> </figure>  Latent cases can progress to active tuberculosis especially when a patient's immune system is weak because of malnutrition, illnesses like HIV, or age. In fact, half of TB worldwide can be attributed to undernourishment. Latent TB can be confirmed in two simple steps: a Mantoux test with an above 10 score and a clear chest x-ray. If positive, the patient is given the 3HP preventive therapy — a once-weekly treatment with isoniazid-rifapentine for 12 weeks. This treatment can prevent reinfection for as long as six years, and is not to be confused with the one for active cases which requires daily treatment for six months. “On an individual level, you can still get reinfected if you are living in a house with active cases. But if you treat the community at large with preventive therapy, you drive down the prevalence of TB and in turn, people won't get reinfected,” explains Maxine Caws of BNMT. She adds: “If we can use preventive therapy to push down the reservoirs of infection then we extend the amount of time people are protected as is the case in Europe for example where people don't get TB anymore because they are not exposed to the bacteria at all. We have to eradicate that reservoir.” The traditional BCG vaccine given within 28 days of birth is effective against childhood tuberculous meningitis and miliary disease, but does not prevent TB in adults. Efforts are underway to develop a new effective vaccine but there are many challenges.&nbsp; TB vaccine development is difficult because exposure to the tuberculosis bacillus does not seem to induce sufficient protective immunity. A new viable vaccine could take a decade, but in that time 13 million more people would die.&nbsp; “We cannot wait and do nothing until a new effective vaccine is developed. Preventive therapy is a vaccine until we have one,” adds Basnyat. Indeed, the 3HP preventive therapy after diagnosis costs only $5 per regimen. So, Nepal’s strategy should be a simultaneous focus on 3HP preventive therapy and case finding.&nbsp; The problem has been a lack of priority for preventive therapy at national and international levels because it does not involve costly research and interventions, and the patients are poor. Explains Caws: “On paper, we have very strong policies but the commitment in terms of funding from the governments has not materialised, essentially because it is not affecting the rich unlike with Covid when we threw everything at it to have a vaccine developed in a year.” TB’s main problem, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/pandemic-eclipses-nepals-tb-epidemic">unlike Covid</a> and HIV/AIDS is that it is a disease of the poor.&nbsp;

Sonia Awale

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Ending TB is possible, and cost-effective

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101144/63720e899c7e80680e0b7923jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"/><figcaption>Photo: ANTONIO BELTRÁN RODRÍGUEZ</figcaption></figure>Daily wage labourers Dharma and Gita lost their jobs during the pandemic. The young couple exhausted their meagre savings in less than a month, after which they started to buy food on credit. Still unable to repay loans, they limited their diet to one small meal a day.Soon, Gita started feeling weak. She often had a fever and cough. As the lockdown extended, her health deteriorated and the medicines were of little help. The couple even took a PCR test which came out negative. They visited five different health centers and bought bags full of medicines. The treatment was so expensive they had to sell their two cows. A month later, and heavily in debt, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis.Tuberculosis mainly afflicts the poorest. The numbers are staggering: one in every three people globally is infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and even if they carry the bacteria most people do not get sick unless their immune system is weakened due to disease or malnutrition.And yet, this easily preventable and curable biblical disease thrives in Nepal and the Subcontinent due to inadequate measures taken to prevent, diagnose and treat the infection.A 2020 National TB Program report revealed that over 100,000 people are living with tuberculosis in Nepal. This figure is much higher than previously estimated but has most likely increased since as many patients have been unable to access treatment during the pandemic.Of these cases, 40,000 patients were not diagnosed or treated at government centres, which means nearly one in every two people were not diagnosed. Oftentimes, people reach standard TB treatment and care after months or even years. Their pathway to cure is complex, long and include misdiagnosis leading to unnecessary prescriptions. This in turn could lead to unnecessary death and suffering. Patients are also ostracised by friends and families, resulting in self-isolation from communities.These challenges are exacerbated by Nepal’s limited health infrastructure. Health care centres are understaffed and poorly managed, maintenance of laboratory equipment, as well as supply of quality chemicals for tests, are erratic.Across Nepal’s Tarai, settlements are overcrowded, people live in extreme poverty, hygiene and sanitation are at a bare minimum. In the hills and the mountains, difficult geographical terrain and poor road networks pose obstacles for people seeking health care.These deeply-rooted structural inequities collectively resulted in magnified impact on TB service delivery during the pandemic. As a result, we observed increased deaths from the disease.In 2018, global leaders committed to reducing TB by 2022. To meet this goal, we need comprehensive intervention programs with sufficient investment for prevention, early diagnosis and treatment. There are four key areas that require increased funding to decrease TB fatalities:1 PreventionWe saw how the world community got together to rapidly develop vaccines for Covid-19 with unprecedented funding and resources. TB on the other hand has only one vaccine and a very weak one at that. Developed over a century ago, BCG does not prevent adults from developing TB disease.UnderNepal's national TB program, young children living with adults who have TB are provided medicines to kill any TB bacteria they have inhaled and prevent the development of the disease. The Birat Nepal Medical Trust for the first time in Nepal is providing a shorter 12-dose course of TB preventative medicine to adults infected with the bacteria to stop them from getting sick and spreading the disease.In 2020, only $684 million of the estimated $2.16 billion needed globally for TB research and development was available from donors. Covid-19 on the other hand received over $100 billion in just two years to develop vaccines. The pandemic exposed this global inequity, and is proof of what sufficient funding and political commitment can achieve.If funding for the global TB prevention program is increased by 3-4 fold, we could design better community-based services, develop a more effective vaccine and promote shorter treatment regimens, all of which will achieve a TB-free Nepal sooner.TB awareness and health promotion messages also do not get as much coverage in the media as they used to. World TB Day, observed every year on 24 March, should serve as a reminder that TB is an epidemic and needs accelerated efforts for elimination.2 Diagnosis and InnovationGovernment health centres provide TB diagnosis and treatment free of cost. Yet, people spend a lot of money and time before they are correctly diagnosed and enrolled in treatment. This is because symptoms of the disease are common to many infections. People develop cough and fever and immediately resort to taking paracetamol and general antibiotics before realising that they have TB.Moreover, Nepal needs to quickly adopt GeneXpert machines which use PCR testing, and chest X-ray that diagnoses early-stage TB effectively and efficiently. Investment should be concentrated to expand, strengthen and maintain these diagnostic tools at health centers all over the country. Health care providers should be similarly trained to operate these machines.GeneXpert technology should be deployed with active case finding where community health workers make home visits to screen and identify TB patients. This method also commonly known as contact tracing was applied in containing the spread of the Covid-19 virus, and has been used in TB programs for decades.Although proven to be effective, new diagnostic technologies are expensive and active case-finding strategies require large and sustained financial commitments. One might question if a country like Nepal can afford such investments. But the question we should be asking is, can we afford not to?The costs of the continued TB epidemic are far greater than the investments required to reduce it. Investing in better  tools including tax waivers on the import of TB diagnostic machines and test kits, and increased global funding for implementation of active case finding strategies for low and middle-income countries like Nepal are urgently needed.3 Community-based Treatment and Care Incomplete or delayed treatment can cause drug resistant TB and even death. Therefore, the treatment of tuberculosis should be patient-centred.TB programs have been implemented in Nepal for over half a century, we now have plenty of experience to employ the best strategies and  to eliminate the scourge.One of the challenges to eradicating TB is the long duration of treatment. Under the DOTS program, tuberculosis patients have to visit health centres daily for medication to be taken in the presence of care providers. But this could expose them to other TB patients, and resulting stigma. It is also time-consuming and comes with additional transport expenses.Investment in research and development of shorter course treatment regimens, and scaling up telemedicine is a priority area.4 Social Protection TB and poverty form a vicious cycle, each fuelling the other. It is mainly the neediest in society who are most affected. Having TB increases financial strain in their families with far-reaching socio-economic consequences. Children may have to forgo education and seek employment to compensate for the loss of income in families with an infected adult. Providing cash to families after the diagnosis will alleviate the financial burden.TB also causes malnutrition making people more vulnerable. Providing diversified food packages with appropriate nutritional value will be a big support, it will also help reduce the mental stress of fulfilling family needs.But these are just a few recommendations, a study to identify feasible and acceptable support for people with TB will enable us to design an improved tuberculosis support program. These should incorporate health education to people with TB and their families to better understand the disease, cope with its treatment and overcome stigma.Ultimately, it is the government’s responsibility to protect the lives of its people. Therefore, investing in and incorporating locally appropriate social protection schemes within the TB program should be the key agenda and priority of policymakers.The slogan this World TB Day today on 24 March is ‘Invest to End TB. Save Lives’, which reiterates the need to increase funding to prevent, diagnose and treat TB. Without substantial investments that will accelerate collective efforts of the community, country and the world, it is unlikely we will win the fight against TB, reverse the huge setback caused by the pandemic or save lives.Kritika Dixit is the Research Manager at Birat Nepal Medical Trust (BNMT) and a doctoral student at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. Rajan Paudel is the Research Associate at BNMT.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101144/63720e8c9c7e80680e0b7924jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="80" height="109"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101144/63720e8d9c7e80680e0b7925jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="82" height="109">Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/for-nepal-a-game-changer-in-tb-control/">For Nepal, a game-changer in TB control</a>, Buddha Basnyat and Maxine Caws

Pandemic eclipses Nepal's TB epidemic

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be7f69c7e80680e087831jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"/><figcaption>Photos: BNMT</figcaption></figure>Drone therapy for tuberculosis diagnosis in Nepal’s remote and hard to reach mountains has won at the <a href="https://tiaca.org/tiaca-press-release/pelican-biothermal-and-nepal-flying-labs-win-2020-tiaca-air-cargo-sustainability-awards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2020 International Air Cargo Association (TIACA)</a> Sustainability Awards and will receive $10,000 in prize money as a start-up category winner.The winning project, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-tests-and-treats-tb-with-a-flying-pharmacy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Drone Optimised Therapy System</a> (DrOTS) by Nepal Flying Labs links rural health posts with high-end diagnostic tool via drones to improve the accessibility of tuberculosis diagnostic tests.“In a year marked by a global pandemic which disrupted our industry, problem solving and forward-thinking companies like Nepal Flying Labs bring hope that air cargo can come out of this crisis stronger and more resilient,” says Céline Hourcade of TIACA, which celebrates and encourages outstanding industry initiatives driving sustainability in air cargo.Under DrOTS, drones fly from a central district hospital to health posts in the mountains to collect sputum samples and deliver both diagnoses and treatment to patients living in up-country villages. The samples are tested using a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/for-nepal-a-game-changer-in-tb-control/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">high-end GenExpert kit</a>.If they are positive, patients are given DOTS (directly observed treatment short course) treatment using smart pill boxes, which keep electronic records of whether or not patients have taken the antibiotics regularly.The highly competitive award evaluated humanitarian projects based on three aspects of sustainability -- economic social and environmental -- as well as innovation and practicality of the applied solution. The winners were announced online on 10 December.The project had also won the prestigious industry award from the <a href="https://www.auvsi.org/industry-news/winners-2020-xcellence-awards" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Association for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles</a> – the AUVSI XCELLENCE Award 2020 in Humanitarian and Public Safety category in October.The goal of this project is to assist Nepal’s Ministry of Health in generating data on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tuberculosis</a> and support it in its efforts to reduce the prevalence of the infection. This perfectly curable medieval disease is the biggest infectious killer in the world today, more than HIV or malaria.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf4OpwoblRc&amp;feature=emb_logoWhile Nepal is a role model in the community-based DOTS treatment, which ensures index patients are taking their medicines, this alone will not suffice in the battle against TB, since a patient would often have already infected others in the household and workplace. Which is why active case finding and early treatment is the key.The first comprehensive national TB prevalence survey 2018-19 in Nepal showed that the burden of TB in Nepal is much higher than previously estimated. There are now known to be 245 TB cases per 100,000 people – which means there are 69,000 new cases each year. Some 6,000 people in Nepal die every year because of the infection while every other Nepali is a carrier of TB.“Tragically over 35,000 cases of TB are not due to difficulties reaching the basic health services. To accelerate progress towards the end of TB in Nepal we must increase efforts to reach remote and disadvantaged populations with high quality TB services,” says Maxine Caws, epidemiologist with BNMT. “The drone project project represents one such approach to solve this problem, and also has the potential to address many other health challenges facing rural populations of Nepal.”The DrOTS test flight was conducted successfully in Piuthan district in western Nepal last year. Since then, over 106 flights have been carried out, collecting and delivering more than 742 sputum samples, with a result of 26 positive cases from eight remote health facilities. The technology has also been used for TB control in Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be7fa9c7e80680e087832jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><figcaption>Locals wait for drone to arrive.</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be7fe9c7e80680e087833jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><figcaption>Using the drone interface.</figcaption></figure>The drones weigh 9kg when empty and can carry another 7kg in a cargo hold designed to protect against biohazards; they can be airborne for 30 minutes. The craft flies at speeds of up to 1km per minute, and is controlled by a pilot at the take-off point who coordinates with a health worker at the destination.The DrOTS project is a multidisciplinary consortium of Birat Nepal Medical Trust (BNMT Nepal), DroNepal, Nepal Flying Labs, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK and WeRobotics, Switzerland working in partnership with the Nick Simons Institute, National Tuberculosis Centre, and Stony Brook University, USA.Says Biplav Pageni of Nepal Flying Labs: “We hope to scale our drone cargo technology to other rural locations and establish networks of medical cargo drones to help more people in the coming days. Drones are said to be the future of air cargo but I believe they are the present and we are using it to save lives in Nepal.”

Nepal anti-TB drone project awarded

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636beef44b0ad905ca02ef7ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"/><figcaption>Photos: BNMT</figcaption></figure>Drone therapy for tuberculosis diagnosis in Nepal’s remote and hard to reach mountains has won at the <a href="https://tiaca.org/tiaca-press-release/pelican-biothermal-and-nepal-flying-labs-win-2020-tiaca-air-cargo-sustainability-awards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2020 International Air Cargo Association (TIACA)</a> Sustainability Awards and will receive $10,000 in prize money as a start-up category winner.The winning project, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-tests-and-treats-tb-with-a-flying-pharmacy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Drone Optimised Therapy System</a> (DrOTS) by Nepal Flying Labs links rural health posts with high-end diagnostic tool via drones to improve the accessibility of tuberculosis diagnostic tests.“In a year marked by a global pandemic which disrupted our industry, problem solving and forward-thinking companies like Nepal Flying Labs bring hope that air cargo can come out of this crisis stronger and more resilient,” says Céline Hourcade of TIACA, which celebrates and encourages outstanding industry initiatives driving sustainability in air cargo.Under DrOTS, drones fly from a central district hospital to health posts in the mountains to collect sputum samples and deliver both diagnoses and treatment to patients living in up-country villages. The samples are tested using a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/for-nepal-a-game-changer-in-tb-control/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">high-end GenExpert kit</a>.If they are positive, patients are given DOTS (directly observed treatment short course) treatment using smart pill boxes, which keep electronic records of whether or not patients have taken the antibiotics regularly.The highly competitive award evaluated humanitarian projects based on three aspects of sustainability -- economic social and environmental -- as well as innovation and practicality of the applied solution. The winners were announced online on 10 December.The project had also won the prestigious industry award from the <a href="https://www.auvsi.org/industry-news/winners-2020-xcellence-awards" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Association for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles</a> – the AUVSI XCELLENCE Award 2020 in Humanitarian and Public Safety category in October.The goal of this project is to assist Nepal’s Ministry of Health in generating data on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tuberculosis</a> and support it in its efforts to reduce the prevalence of the infection. This perfectly curable medieval disease is the biggest infectious killer in the world today, more than HIV or malaria.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf4OpwoblRc&amp;feature=emb_logoWhile Nepal is a role model in the community-based DOTS treatment, which ensures index patients are taking their medicines, this alone will not suffice in the battle against TB, since a patient would often have already infected others in the household and workplace. Which is why active case finding and early treatment is the key.The first comprehensive national TB prevalence survey 2018-19 in Nepal showed that the burden of TB in Nepal is much higher than previously estimated. There are now known to be 245 TB cases per 100,000 people – which means there are 69,000 new cases each year. Some 6,000 people in Nepal die every year because of the infection while every other Nepali is a carrier of TB.“Tragically over 35,000 cases of TB are not due to difficulties reaching the basic health services. To accelerate progress towards the end of TB in Nepal we must increase efforts to reach remote and disadvantaged populations with high quality TB services,” says Maxine Caws, epidemiologist with BNMT. “The drone project project represents one such approach to solve this problem, and also has the potential to address many other health challenges facing rural populations of Nepal.”The DrOTS test flight was conducted successfully in Piuthan district in western Nepal last year. Since then, over 106 flights have been carried out, collecting and delivering more than 742 sputum samples, with a result of 26 positive cases from eight remote health facilities. The technology has also been used for TB control in Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636beef84b0ad905ca02ef7bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><figcaption>Locals wait for drone to arrive.</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636beefb4b0ad905ca02ef7cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><figcaption>Using the drone interface.</figcaption></figure>The drones weigh 9kg when empty and can carry another 7kg in a cargo hold designed to protect against biohazards; they can be airborne for 30 minutes. The craft flies at speeds of up to 1km per minute, and is controlled by a pilot at the take-off point who coordinates with a health worker at the destination.The DrOTS project is a multidisciplinary consortium of Birat Nepal Medical Trust (BNMT Nepal), DroNepal, Nepal Flying Labs, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK and WeRobotics, Switzerland working in partnership with the Nick Simons Institute, National Tuberculosis Centre, and Stony Brook University, USA.Says Biplav Pageni of Nepal Flying Labs: “We hope to scale our drone cargo technology to other rural locations and establish networks of medical cargo drones to help more people in the coming days. Drones are said to be the future of air cargo but I believe they are the present and we are using it to save lives in Nepal.”

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141132/636babf89c7e80680e077f08jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"/><figcaption>Photo: NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVE</figcaption></figure>COVID-19 has made headlines every day over the past two months, but tuberculosis (TB) patients across South Asia have their treatment interrupted due to the lockdown.South Asia is a vast hub for TB. India alone had 2.7 million new cases and 440,000 deaths due to TB in 2018 — the highest in the world. Every year, tuberculosis kills at least 6,000 people in Nepal and every other person is a carrier of the microbe.The WHO has set <a href="https://www.who.int/tb/End_TB_brochure.pdf?ua=1" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.who.int/tb/End_TB_brochure.pdf?ua%3D1&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1593695520550000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHVd_kVz8K7Q1LZxUa_CWkwSdG7Vg">global targets</a> to reduce new cases of TB by 90% and deaths by 95% between 2015 and 2035. However, the fight against TB faces a setback of an estimated 5-8 years globally, due to COVID-19.The COVID-19 crisis has uncovered gaps in the present healthcare system in the Subcontinent. There is now a shortage of functioning sputum testing centres as well as DOT (Directly Observed Treatment Short-course) centres. Healthcare workers are also wary of going on-ground and carrying out tests and diagnoses.Migrant workers with TB, who are travelling away from their workplaces, are at risk of treatment interruption, which may lead to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-drug-resistant_tuberculosis#:~:text=Infectious%20disease,drugs)%2C%20isoniazid%20and%20rifampin." data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-drug-resistant_tuberculosis%23:~:text%3DInfectious%2520disease,drugs)%252C%2520isoniazid%2520and%2520rifampin.&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1593695520550000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEkqQ32ZjQluu9UU_sZ8EeTipApXQ">multi-drug-resistant (MDR) TB</a>. Additionally, due to the stigma attached with the symptoms of COVID-19, people are now afraid to get tested for TB, which has symptoms similar to those of COVID-19.This can exacerbate the problem, as undiagnosed patients can infect many more. Those with lung injuries due to TB may be <a href="https://www.thetruthabouttb.org/coronavirus/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.thetruthabouttb.org/coronavirus/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1593695520550000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHh8d8TmjVl40wPRPytgXeQDPsiww">prone to more severe outcomes</a> if infected with COVID-19.“In India, health-seeking behaviour has completely changed after COVID-19. People think twice before seeking a doctor,” says Khasim Sayyed of TB Alert India. “We are expecting a very high number of patients across all DOT centres and outpatient departments once the lockdown is lifted, because the patients are afraid to get diagnosed right now.”A combination of strategies will be required to restore normal TB services, with the objective to reduce the accumulated pool of undetected TB patients. Here are some other steps that can be taken to strengthen both diagnosis and treatment:Diagnosis<ul><li>Governments should collaborate with non-profits and use technology to ramp-up active case-finding and contact tracing.</li> 	<li>Community health workers should conduct door-to-door sample collection.</li> 	<li>Health system should ensure diagnostic services for TB. Currently, most labs are being used for COVID-19 testing only.</li> 	<li><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-covid-19-game-changer-for-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-covid-19-game-changer-for-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1593695520550000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEqv3e5bpooFbMQx594hHcms3j7uA">GeneXpert</a> test should be enabled for MDR TB cases as they are quicker and can identify if a person has resistance to the drug.</li></ul>Treatment<ul><li>Healthcare workers and non-profits should facilitate tele-counselling to sensitise family members about the possible side effects and severe symptoms of TB.</li> 	<li>The government, in collaboration with non-profits, should run a helpline so that TB patients can better manage severe symptoms or side effects.</li> 	<li>Health practitioners should leverage digital tools to diagnose patients and prescribe first-line treatment.</li></ul>Additionally, institutions must also work to safeguard healthcare workers from tuberculosis, as well as COVID-19, during any intervention. And as more private practitioners turn to digital facilities for diagnosis and consulting, there is a need to design solutions for marginalised communities.The projected numbers for TB highlight the urgency for a better intervention strategy. While the COVID-19 pandemic deserves attention and intervention, the response to it should not come at the cost of another disease. (IPS)Devika Agarwal has worked with TB Alert India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Delhi, and the non-profit Aaroogya. This story was <a href="https://idronline.org/managing-an-epidemic-within-a-pandemic/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://idronline.org/managing-an-epidemic-within-a-pandemic/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1593695520550000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGlN78X8O31tWoB2VkPn1rFIadjaA">originally published</a> by India Development Review (IDR) and has been reprinted under an arrangement with Inter Press Service (IPS).

TB patients in limbo due to COVID-19

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151120/636a66739c7e80680e059980jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo : BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>There used to be a time when the main public health threat in Nepal was from infectious diseases like <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-mosquito-that-changed-nepals-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">malaria</a>, encephalitis, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TB</a> and typhoid. Whether vector-borne or transmitted through contaminated air or water, the most cost-effective way to address them was through prevention. Communication was the first line of defence against communicable diseases.Things have changed. Awareness has grown because literacy rates are up. Most Nepalis now suffer from non-communicable ailments like cardiovascular diseases, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/diabetes-in-south-asia,3018">diabetes</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/A-mysterious-rash-of-kidney-failures,3639" target="_blank" rel="noopener">renal failure</a> and malignancies. These need treatment in medical facilities at a time when the over-commercialisation of hospitals has made healthcare unaffordable for a majority of the population. In fact, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/poor-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">poor health</a> is making Nepalis poorer.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/is-free-health-care-possible-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Is free health care possible in Nepal?</a>, S P Kalaunee<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=37821&amp;preview_nonce=9ce6a7c55d&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Federalism leaves Nepal’s medical sector ailing,</a> Sewa BhattaraiAlso, communicable diseases have not been completely overcome. Diarrhoeal dehydration and other water-carried infections are still major killers. One of the reasons Nepal’s progress in reducing child mortality has stalled is because of the state’s failure to ensure adequate and safe drinking water in remote regions. In this paper we have also reported on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nearly-half-of-nepali-children-still-malnourished/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stunting and wasting among children</a> due to malnutrition.In addition, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/air-pollution-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worsening air pollution</a> has caused an epidemic of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which has led to lung infections in all age brackets and causing terminal pneumonia and other complications in the elderly. At current levels of PM2.5 concentration in the air, studies show, the average lifespan of city dwellers in Nepal could be reduced by up to four years.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-is-a-microcosm-of-all-of-the-changes-in-world-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Nepal is a microcosm of all of the change in world health"</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/poor-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Poor health</a>, EditorialNepal’s burden of non-communicable diseases and injuries has doubled in the last 25 years, with nearly 15% caused by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-deadly-roads-take-their-toll/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">road traffic accidents</a> or natural disasters. Traffic accidents are now the second biggest killer of young Nepalis. Just in the past three weeks, 90 people have been killed on highways due to poor road condition or carelessness.A vivid indication of the threat of non-communicable diseases is today’s prevalence of diabetes. South Asians are genetically more susceptible to cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, but there are now new risk factors caused by increasing rural to urban migration. While the world prevalence average for both types of diabetes is 8%, research has shown that 14% of people in Dharan suffer from the disease. Taplejung, from where many have migrated to Dharan, has a rate of only 1%. The reason is clear: increased intake of carbohydrates and a more sedentary lifestyle when people move to cities.To meet these challenges, Nepal desperately needs <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/is-free-health-care-possible-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affordable and accessible medical care</a>. At the moment, hospital treatment is neither. The poor in remote, underserved areas of the country are disproportionately vulnerable. As our report from Bajura shows, the problem is further complicated because confusion over federalism, budget and jurisdiction has left most rural government hospitals underfunded and underserved. It is imperative that the government act quickly to resolve the retention crisis caused by medical staff getting themselves transferred out of their jobs in remote areas.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/national-health-insurance-not-as-easy,4028" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A national health insurance is not as easy as it looks</a>, Sonia Awale<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/this-is-how-to-upgrade-nepals-rural-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This is how to upgrade Nepal's rural health</a>, Sewa BhattaraiA survey last year showed that half of all <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/national-health-insurance-not-as-easy,4028" target="_blank" rel="noopener">medical expenditure of Nepalis families</a> is out-of-pocket, and 60% of that is for treatment of non-communicable diseases and injuries. The federal government allocates only about 10% of its budget to health care, and the focus is still on communicable diseases. Donor priority is also not on non-communicable diseases and injuries. A study of government hospitals by the Nick Simons Institute shows a huge unmet need in remote areas for basic surgery like caesarean sections and orthopaedics.One bright spot ahead is the success of pilot insurance schemes being tried out in various parts of the country. In a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/is-free-health-care-possible-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commentary this week</a>, S P Kalaunee of Nyaya Health, an NGO that helps the government manage hospitals in Achham and Dolakha, presents a proven 60:25:15 formula of health insurance. In this arrangement, non-profits, the private sector and all three levels of government can make medical care affordable to all Nepalis, if upscaled. Under the scheme, 60% of the cost of care comes from insurance, provincial governments pay 25% and municipalities take care of the remaining 15%.Parts of the scheme are being tried out in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/this-is-how-to-upgrade-nepals-rural-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bayalpata Hospital in Achham</a> (which last week <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bayalpata-hospital-in-nepal-wins-global-design-award/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">won the Global Architecture Festival award</a> in Amsterdam for its design). Insurance reimbursement covers the cost of insurance-covered care, the local government allocates funds required for basic and emergency healthcare, and the provincial government pays for managing the cost of referrals beyond insurance coverage. Internationally, this has become an issue with 12 December marked as Universal Health Coverage Day.Nepal’s constitution now guarantees basic and emergency healthcare as fundamental rights of citizens, and puts the responsibility on to the state. The government  can no longer keep passing the buck on providing universal insurance for its citizens.<h2>10 years ago this week</h2>Nepali Times <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/480" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issue #480 of 11-17 December 2009</a> carried an <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16572#.XfId7ZMzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview on page 1 with Baburam Bhattarai</a>, who was then vice-chair of the Maoist party.  Excerpts:‘From the very beginning, we have said that the basis of the federal system should be nationality. In Marxist terms, nationality means a common language, geography, economy and psychological make-up. A group of people that shares these qualities is called a nationality.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151120/636a66769c7e80680e059981jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="392" height="600">On this basis we have proposed to constitute federal autonomous units in Nepal and we also practised this during the People’s War. Since the very beginning we have been consistent that federalism should be along the lines of nationality.’

POOR HEALTH MAKES NEPALIS POORER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYrj1Et-9PkSir Jeremy Farrar is a British medical doctor and researcher with 30 years of experience in tropical and infectious diseases. In 2013, he was appointed director of the Wellcome Trust, one of the biggest global charities working in medical research. Nepali Times caught up with Farrar this week in Kathmandu, a place he visits often. Excerpts from the conversation:Nepali Times: What explains your interest in Nepal?Jeremy Farrar: I first came to Nepal in about 1989 or 1990. Since then, I have been working mostly on infectious diseases but increasingly on non-infectious diseases. I spent 18 years in Vietnam and moved back to London 6 years ago. I'm interested in where there are inequitable challenges of health, which I can see getting worse than better, and I think science as part of society can make a difference, and all of that is true in Nepal.You were with Oxford University collaborating with Patan Hospital.Most of my work was based on typhoid in Vietnam and Dr Buddha Basnyat of Patan Hospital quite rightly termed South Asia as the ‘capital of typhoid’. The burden of typhoid in this part of the world is massive. So in 2004 I came here and started a partnership that has been ongoing for the last 15 years. It started with typhoid, but now it has branched out to include other infections particularly important in Nepal.Since you started coming to Nepal how has the health situation here changed?In some ways Nepal is a microcosm of all of the changes that are happening in low and low-middle-income countries. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12158#.Xa_yEZIzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal is still struggling with the burden of infectious diseases </a>but it is now also having to deal with the double whammy of infectious diseases that have not disappeared and the increasing burden posed by non-communicable diseases. The real problem for countries such as Nepal is dealing with both at the same time, and those require quite different public health measures, and require governments to make informed, evidence-based policy decisions.Read also:  <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17306#.Xa_yFZIzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Myadhe joro aka typhoid fever</a>, Buddha Basnyat<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141156/636a60b19c7e80680e056e92jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo: Sonia Awale</figcaption></figure>We just suffered an unprecedented dengue epidemic in Kathmandu.  Dengue is the infectious disease of the 21st century because it is driven by all of the changes we are going to see: environment change, climate change, urbanisation, travel and movement of people and therefore vectors. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mosquitoes-move-up-mountains-as-the-earth-warms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cities like Kathmandu are perfect breeding grounds</a> for the Aedes mosquito. Kathmandu's climate is changing, the city is growing exponentially in a haphazard way and the mosquito loves highly dense populations of people. If you put together environmental and climate change and the mosquitoes gradually spreading further north from India into the Tarai and increasingly into Nepal, it's inevitable that Kathmandu and the lower lands of Nepal will suffer from dengue outbreaks.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-health-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate-health emergency,</a> Sonia AwaleOn top of these, we still have TB and leprosy.In my professional career of 35 years I have never been more optimistic about <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-tb-cases-grossly-underestimated/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tuberculosis</a>. If you take the big three infectious diseases of the world (TB, HIV, malaria), in 30 years HIV has gone from being a death sentence in a few week after diagnosis to a difficult disease but one you can manage long term. In the last 20 years there has been amazing progress in malaria with insecticide-laced bed nets and the Chinese herbal drug called Artimisinin, the most important malaria drug ever invented.TB has not made that much progress. We are still using a diagnostic test invented in the 19th century. There has been no new tuberculosis drug since the last 40 years. We have not really understood how it transfers from one person to another. But that is being transformed. With the coming of a new pipeline of drugs that are now being used in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the treatment period will shorten, making it much easier. But perhaps more important than that, for the first time there is the possibility of a tuberculosis vaccine that will prevent infection and disease. We have to make sure that it gets developed properly, then manufactured and made accessible in an equitable way at a price that is affordable for everybody.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TB</a>, Sonia Awale<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/for-nepal-a-game-changer-in-tb-control/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">For Nepal, a game-changer in TB control</a>, Buddha Basnyat and Maxine CawsWellcome Trust is also involved with snakebite research. What are the real problems tackling this?Snakebite is the biggest disease nobody has heard of. It affects mostly impoverished people in rural communities who have no political voice. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/snakebite-is-treatable-no-one-need-die-from-it/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Snakebite treatment</a> is still using 19th century or early 20th century interventions, which are expensive to produce, difficult to access and not available to those who really need them. If people are bitten in low or low-middle income countries, chances are they will never get treated. We are interested in bringing in technologies that have been used in cancer and infectious diseases to produce a treatment that counteracts the snake venom.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/hisss/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hiss</a>, Sonia AwaleIs mental health an area you are working on?In addition to funding discovery science, we have a small number of focused areas, where there has been little progress in the past. Mental health is the next one we are launching. Mental health has not attracted much investment or young people interested in working on it, and it's often placed into different parts of the health system with separate hospitals. Mental health still caries enormous stigma everywhere in the world. So we've not had the investment in science, public health and in clinical care of people, and we haven't had the advances in prevention and treatment. This is not only a health issue but also of social justice and economy. Working in collaboration with various partners we are trying to transform mental health from being an issue of stigma and no progress to one that people are willing to talk about, that becomes a normal part of society and where we make scientific and health progress that will reduce the burden of this massive problem.

“Nepal is a microcosm of all of the changes in world health”

Paul Nunn and Bhim Singh Thakuri<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110814110/636a52f19c7e80680e052324jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"/><figcaption>Pic: NT ARCHIVE</figcaption></figure>Tuberculosis remains <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/tb-or-not-tb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a major public health problem in Nepal</a>, with over 32,000 notified cases and an estimated 7,000 deaths per year.Nepal participated at the United Nations High Level Meeting on TB in September 2018 and, with all the other nations of the world, committed to end TB as a public health problem by 2035.In June, a team of international TB experts reviewed the country’s progress against the disease, visiting five provinces. Their findings: Nepal is not on track to meet the 2035 commitment.  What is more, cases of TB in the country are much higher than we previously estimated.There had been concern that notified cases were just the tip of the iceberg, as there was evidence that many TB cases were being missed.  The Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) supported by the Global Fund against AIDS, TB and Malaria and the World Health Organisation, conducted a survey to measure for the first time the amount of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TB in Nepal</a>.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-tests-and-treats-tb-with-a-flying-pharmacy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal tests and treats TB with a flying pharmacy</a>, Ramu Sapkota<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TB</a>, Sonia AwaleDespite the terrain, this was one of the most thorough surveys ever done. Final results will be published at the end of the year, but preliminary findings show there is about two-thirds more TB than was previously estimated.How could this be? For over 20 years, Nepal has had a National TB Programme (NTP), which provided nationwide coverage of basic services for drug sensitive TB and, more recently, for drug resistant TB. Treatment results compare favourably with other countries.The NTP has successfully introduced modern rapid diagnostic technology (GeneXpert) and electronic reporting of cases, started a collaboration with the private sector to ensure proper management of patients, and begun a program to find and treat children with TB.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/for-nepal-a-game-changer-in-tb-control/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">For Nepal, a game-changer in TB control</a>, Buddha Basnyat and Maxine Caws<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/tb-or-not-tb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TB or not TB</a>, Editorial<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110814110/636a52f59c7e80680e052325jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="639"><figcaption>A lab technician at National Tuberculosis Centre in Thimi, Bhaktapur. Photo: NATIONAL TUBERCULOSIS CENTRE</figcaption></figure>But long-standing weaknesses in management and organisation, compounded now by the federalisation process, have allowed some of the essential functions of the NTP to disintegrate, and others are at serious risk. The laboratory network for diagnosing TB and the system of supportive supervision that ensures standards are maintained through all levels of government should be restored immediately.This is because district centres, key to TB control strategies, were abolished — and then reinstated — but with far fewer staff than previously.Accurate surveillance of the cases notified and the flow of information to the centre is endangered. Federalisation has so far not created clear mechanisms that will ensure these essential functions continue. If decentralised procurement of drugs continues, it will increase procurement costs significantly and risk the purchase of poor quality drugs.Successive governments have allowed the technical staff of the National TB Centre to be hollowed out, eroding its capacity to develop policies and lead their implementation. The National Strategic Plan, written three years ago, is underfunded and only partially implemented. Most staff responsible for TB activities are now not trained to carry out the work.Diagnosis is mostly by outdated and insensitive sputum microscopy.  <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-tests-and-treats-tb-with-a-flying-pharmacy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Transport of specimens to laboratories</a> is still inadequate. Consequently, GeneXpert utilisation has been slow to increase.The private health sector is massive and growing. Over 70% of people with TB first go to private clinics, yet diagnosis and treatment are of variable quality, leading to drug resistance.The joint monitoring mission recommended the following:Stop the collapse of the NTP by engaging the MOHP in discussions on federalisation to ensure that the essential functions of TB control are preserved, with clear roles and responsibilities for the newly appointed staff.Increase investment to provide technical support to all levels of the NTP through teams of staff at central and provincial levels. Let a partner employ these staff if the government cannot do so immediately.Use these teams to address the massive training gap that hypermobility of staff and federalisation have created.Phase out sputum microscopy for diagnosis and move to GeneXpert testing, and make sure contracted organisations achieve case-finding targets. If they do not, stop the activities and redirect the resources to more effective areas.Fully engage with the private sector to ensure patients there are diagnosed and treated according to national guidelines.Similarly engage with community-based organisations to help find cases and ensure they finish treatment.Nepal must act on all these recommendations without delay to get back on track to meet its commitments.Paul Nunn was Team Leader of the international mission and Bhim Singh Tinkari is a recent Director of the National Tuberculosis Centre<h2>Communities against a communicable disease</h2>TB testing by and for communities can free Nepal from its biggest infectious killerOlivia Biermann<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110814110/636a52f79c7e80680e052326jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1194"><figcaption>Photos: Birat Nepal Medical Trust</figcaption></figure>Ram, 65, from Makwanpur was nothing but skin and bones. He had lost his appetite and was coughing. His back pain made it difficult for him to walk and care for his chickens and buffalos, which were his main source of income. Ram was very sick, but his disease remained undiagnosed.Over the course of a year, he had visited several private and public health facilities, and spent over Rs69,000 for different treatments. Nothing helped. Ram had given up hope of being healthy.A partner organisation of the national TB program was targeting high-risk areas like Makwanpur for the disease by setting up neighbourhood camps to test people. Ram met volunteer Sangita, who collected his sputum sample and tested it. Ram had TB. He started treatment immediately. Six months later, the treatment completed, he was cured.There are about 10,000 Nepalis like Ram, sick with TB but never diagnosed and treated. They continue to unknowingly transmit the disease to their families, friends and colleagues — fuelling the epidemic. Poverty increases the likelihood that a person will get sick with TB. In turn, TB can make people and their families a lot poorer.Worldwide, TB is the number one infectious killer. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 3.7 million people have TB, but do not even know it.One strategy to find these ‘missing’ TB patients is community-based screening (active case-finding). Setting up a camp, as in Ram’s neighbourhood, is only one of many examples of how this type of outreach screening can be done. It could also mean testing friends and family members of a TB patient or offering screening to high-risk groups, such as persons with HIV or diabetes, or people living in a homeless shelter.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110814110/636a52fb9c7e80680e052327jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1116"><figcaption>PROACTIVE MEASURES: Health care volunteers during an outreach screening program in Dhanusha as part of active case-finding for tuberculosis in local communities.</figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/for-nepal-a-game-changer-in-tb-control/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Active case-finding</a> is not a silver bullet to end TB. There are no silver bullets, in fact. Consequently, in countries with many TB patients like Nepal, community-based TB screening is a necessary but potentially double-edged sword in the global TB emergency.Community screening can waste resources or increase stigma, but it can also decrease suffering and transmission – it all depends on how it has been tailored and put into practice. That is to say that this ‘sword’ should be used carefully, and by those who know when, where and how to mobilise the community.Tailoring outreach screening approaches means considering a) global and local data and evidence, which are limited but steadily growing, and b) using the most accurate diagnostic tools, such as the molecular <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17747#.XUwPT_IzaUl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GeneXpert test</a> not widely available in Nepal yet. (See article above)Active case-finding is a balancing act. Tailoring and integrating outreach screening approaches implies that we must consider and strike a balance between:Focusing on transmission versus individual health outcomesPublic health versus risk of harm for individualsEmploying the necessary human resources versus relying on volunteersAchieving long-term success versus containing costs in the short-termProactive prevention versus reactive medical interventions.What Nepal needs to meet its 2030 TB target, contained in the Sustainable Development Goals, is a person-centred public health and sustainability mindset. This is not an oxymoron. We need to keep the big picture in mind so that the 10,000 missing Nepali TB patients like Ram can be identified and treated. Only then can we work towards ending the TB epidemic.Olivia Biermann of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm used to work for the WHO and is researching health systems and policy in low- and middle-income countries.  Read also:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17747#.XUwP8_IzaUl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Game change in Tuberculosis</a>, Buddha Basnyat<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/resistance-to-live-saving-drugs-threatens-to-set-back-progress-in-nepal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The return of microbes</a>, Sunir Pandey

Nepal TB cases grossly underestimated

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811118/636a2ab39c7e80680e04592fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"/><figcaption>TB OR NOT TB: Birat Nepal Medical Trust team in Hetauda on Wednesdady used the Holi festival to raise awareness about tuberculosis in Nepal. Photo: Antonio Beltrán Rodríguez</figcaption></figure>Tuberculosis killed 33 million people worldwide between 2000-2015, more than the entire population of Nepal. The infection still kills three people every minute all over the world, and 11 Nepalis a day. This perfectly curable medieval disease is the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">biggest infectious killer</a> in the world today, more than HIV or malaria. In sharp contrast, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/ebola-in-asia,1764" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ebola</a>, which receives far more media coverage, killed only four people in 2017.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/tb-or-not-tb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TB or not TB</a>, Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TB</a>, Sonia Awale<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811118/636a2ab69c7e80680e045930jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="702">World Tuberculosis Day on 24 March is an opportunity for governments to renew efforts to control this devastating disease. More than 40% of the world’s TB cases occur in South Asia. While much research and funding focuses on HIV-associated TB and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/resistance-to-live-saving-drugs-threatens-to-set-back-progress-in-nepal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB</a> in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV infected individuals make up only 9% of global TB cases and less than 1% had MDR TB in 2017. Despite a huge sample size, there is a lack of research on TB in South Asia, particularly India, and on cases not associated with HIV. If nothing is done, TB will cost another 28 million lives in the next 10 years.These shocking figures may seem like numbing statistics, but at an emotional level in Nepal, we all know people, including many family members, who have suffered and died of TB. Many readers also may have suffered from TB, and fortunately have been cured. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/tb-or-not-tb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tuberculosis</a> is so rampant in South Asia that every working day, clinicians struggle with the question in any random patient: Is this TB? This is in sharp contrast to the western world where TB is essentially a biblical disease.While Nepal is a role model in the community-based DOTS (directly observed treatment short course) treatment, which ensures index patients are taking their medicines, this alone will not suffice in the battle against TB, since a patient would often have already infected others in the household and workplace. Which is why active case finding and early treatment is the key. But tragically there is massive under-reporting -- Nepal gets over 40,000 new cases of TB a year with over 4,000 deaths, but many do not get diagnosis and treatment due to lack of resources for TB control.The first ever prevalence survey for TB in Nepal is currently underway, and preliminary findings show a substantial increase in the estimate of total TB cases in the country. This would be consistent with the results of other prevalence surveys in the region, which have all demonstrated that the burden of TB has been substantially underestimated in South Asia. For example, evaluation of data from multiple sources in India showed an increase of more than 80% in the estimated incident TB cases from 1.6 million to 2.9 million in 2014. Although better than DOTS, just active case finding and treatment will not be enough to bring TB under control.This is where George Comstock’s work becomes relevant in Nepal and South Asia. In the 1950-60s this epidemiologist worked with the largely Inuit population in the town of Bethel in Alaska. He determined that, although patients and their household contacts were being treated properly, the rates of TB in the community was not declining as predicted. He felt that unless latent TB infection was treated, the TB organism ‘pool’ would continue to perpetuate the disease. Many people who are exposed to the tuberculosis organism will just have an infection, that is latent TB, without any symptoms.Comstock started treating latent TB infections with one drug (isoniazid) which, sure enough, brought down TB cases in Bethel. Since then, multiple studies all over the world have shown that treating latent TB infection this way helps substantially decrease the TB pool in the community and make a resounding impact in the control of TB. Indeed, this is how TB has been nearly removed from many poor communities in the West. For many reasons, including financial and perceived concerns of isoniazid’s liver toxicity, Comstock’s game plan has never been taken seriously in South Asia. It is time we change this and replicated the strategy.In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasised treatment of latent TB in high incidence countries. This will be a game-changer in Nepal, besides the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17747#.XJN9YyIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">highly efficient Gene Xpert machine</a> used for active case finding. By decreasing the pool of tuberculosis patients, we have a chance to meet the lofty <a href="https://www.who.int/tb/post2015_strategy/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WHO END TB strategy</a> of reducing global incidence by 90% and deaths from TB by 95% by 2035. But even these targets only represent a reduction in TB to the levels seen in developed western nations today, not elimination.These targets are not achievable unless there is a dramatic escalation in TB control efforts and a significant paradigm shift in our approach. To attain the target, the annual decline in global TB incidence rates must accelerate from 2% per year in 2015 to approximately 17%  per year by 2025. This requires the deployment of George Comstock’s strategy to act now, and to observe this year’s TB Day slogan ‘It is time for action’.Buddha Basnyat is a physician at Patan Hospital and Max Caws is with the Britain Nepal Medical Trust in Kathmandu.

For Nepal, a game-changer in TB control

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171136/636934889c7e80680e03dfffjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="700"/><figcaption>Photo: UNICEF</figcaption></figure>Polio eradication is one of the most ambitious public health initiatives undertaken in human history. Launched in 1988 by the World Health Organization (WHO) the campaign aimed to rid the world of the virus by 2000. But 30 years on and $15 billion later, even though polio cases worldwide have been reduced by 99%, there are still isolated pockets of the disease. And unless every last case is removed, there will always a chance that the infection will come back.Encouraged by the eradication of small pox, WHO launched the campaign in 1988. The organisation debated the wisdom of spending so much time and money to exterminate a disease when there were many other more pressing health concerns like <a href="http://malaria https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-mosquito-that-changed-nepals-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">malaria</a>, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tb/ or diarrhoea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TB</a> or diarrhoea that kill many more people.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQd_-6W_9Gg&amp;feature=youtu.beThomas Abraham, a journalist who taught health reporting at the University of Hong Kong, has tried to answer this and other questions in his new book <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Polio-Odyssey-Eradication-Thomas-Abraham/dp/1849049564" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Polio: The Odyssey of Eradication</a>. He says polio was held hostage by geopolitics, and traces the reason why countries opted for a weak vaccine against a strong virus. The author concludes that future global campaigns that zero in on just one disease must be weighed against the necessity of upgrading public health, especially in poorer countries.In Nepal, indigenous <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Bouncing-back-higher-wheelchair-basketball,3802" target="_blank" rel="noopener">polio</a> was eliminated in 2000 after the country responded to WHO’s eradication goal by adding polio to its successful campaign of vaccination against other diseases. However, there were still polio cases in Nepal brought over the border from India. The last case of polio was detected in Rautahat district in 2010, and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2014/03/28/polio-free-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal was finally declared polio free</a> four years later.In response to a query from Nepali Times this week, however, Abraham said Nepal is not out of the woods yet. “If polio re-emerges in India, particularly UP and Bihar, this would be a major challenge to Nepal,” he said. “Also, if levels of routine childhood immunisation fall in Nepal there is a danger of outbreaks of vaccine derived polio, as we are seeing in a number of countries.”Even though polio has been largely removed, there are still cases in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria where vaccination campaigns have been thwarted by religious extremists. Ironically, enmity between India and Pakistan and the heavily guarded border between the two countries has minimised the risk of polio spreading via India to Nepal.Polio derived from oral vaccines has emerged as a new threat to the eradication campaign. By 2016, WHO deployed a combination of Inactivated Polio Virus (Salk vaccine) and bivalent oral vaccine to prevent further outbreaks.“Routine immunisation levels need to remain high in order to maintain Nepal’s polio-free status. Luckily, we have a strong disease surveillance system to detect any new polio cases,” said Jhalak Sharma Gautam of the Department of Health Services.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171136/6369348b9c7e80680e03e000jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="869"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16116#.W_aWJTgzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Polio</a> is one of the oldest diseases to afflict humans, but it wasn’t until the beginning of 20thcentury that there were outbreaks in Europe, North America and Australia. US President Franklin D Roosevelt was paralysed by poliomyelitis, and because of this the US threw considerable political influence and funds to back polio vaccine research.The first was the Salk vaccine that used inactivated poliovirus, and protected individuals injected with right dose, but it did not stop the transfer of the disease. The Sabin vaccine in 1961 employed a weakened poliovirus to be administered orally. It was cheaper and easier to use and protected individuals from paralysis as well as stopped polio transmission, which eventually led to it being chosen as a tool of eradication.Despite its success, the Global Polio Eradication campaign has been criticised for its huge cost and for widening the gap between local health needs and global health programs. In his book, Abraham puts his experience as a foreign correspondent to good use by visiting the frontlines of the battle against polio in Pakistan, India and Nigeria. He writes about the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/health/polio-pakistan-killing.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">assassinations of polio vaccinators in Pakistan</a> and Afghanistan by the Taliban.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171136/6369348e9c7e80680e03e001jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1250" height="441">A considerable portion of the book deals with a long-standing debate about whether targeting a single disease for eradication should take precedence over strengthening national health systems. This resonates with WHO’s own reluctance to endorse polio eradication for a long time in favour of a strong primary health care system.This book is a recommended read for public health professionals, but it has lessons for anyone who wants to better understand the inner workings of health systems, donor agency priorities, and what goes on behind the scenes in Geneva.Abraham is neither an epidemiologist nor a medical practitioner, he is a journalist with over 25 years of experience covering conflict, politics and health. Maybe that is why the book reads more like a thriller with an engaging real-life account of what goes right (and what can go wrong) in the fight against a disease-causing pathogen.Read also:<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Bouncing-back-higher-wheelchair-basketball,3802" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bouncing back</a>, Shreejana Shrestha<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16116#.W_aWJTgzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Laxmi dreams of flying</a>, Rupa Joshi

Polio hunt

One smoggy winter morning in February 2019, Ekta regretted coming to her sculpture class. It was the first day of her period, and the 19-year-old wished she was home, curled up in bed with a hot water bag to soothe her cramps.
Her class was at Kalapremi Ceramic Studio, a dark room on the ground floor of a house in Maharajganj, and Ekta’s teacher was the artist Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’, a noted sculptor.
Two other students were already there, using all their muscle strength to knead the sculpting clay. Ekta, now 24, recalls how Kalapremi asked her if she was feeling all right. She avoided him, as she did not want everyone to know she was menstruating.
Kalapremi repeatedly asked Ekta what was wrong. She finally muttered that she was having her period, after which he grabbed her hand and led her to a partitioned corner of the studio and sat her on a chair. Before she could stop him, he slid his hand under her dress, and started massaging her abdomen.
“I was horrified,” Ekta recalls. “I told him to stop, but he didn’t listen, asking me not to be shy, saying he knew how to relieve my pain. He stopped only after I protested furiously.”&nbsp;
The art tutor then said, “You’re like my daughter. I’m doing it out of love to make you feel better, but you’re so stubborn.”&nbsp;
“Instead of saying sorry he acted like I was the one having crazy thoughts,” remembers Ekta, adding that from April 2016 to August 2020 beginning the time she was 16, the artist sexually abused and harassed her on several occasions. &nbsp;
Now, Ekta and the artist’s other former students are finally sharing their experiences and some are pressing legal charges against him, hoping that others do not have to endure what they did.&nbsp;
Award-winning artist and teacher Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’ (the name means ‘Art Lover’) is known for his ceramic art, sculpture, and contemporary pottery. He was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-house-of-kalapremi">profiled in Nepali Times after a collaborative exhibition</a>, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ at the Siddhartha Art Gallery three years ago.&nbsp;
His pieces, titled Gaalis, featured sculpted female figures with the heads of dogs, sheep, and donkeys (pictured) to depict derogatory terms for women. Some critics said the collection was a satire on feminists.
Kalapremi started his artistic and teaching career in 1983 and over the years taught at Bhanubhakta School, Kathmandu University School of Arts, Lalitkala Campus and at his private Kalapremi Ceramic Studio. He has also lectured at Jeonju University in South Korea and recently at Tabor Academy in the United States.
Seven of Kalapremi’s former students were interviewed for this story. Five female students said he touched them inappropriately in his studio or at Kathmandu University. Two male students said they witnessed him abuse and harass the women. In all cases, the students struggled to recognise the abuse when it occurred, and the lack of reporting systems left them to cope on their own for years.&nbsp;
Earlier this year, students shared a social media post hinting at Kalapremi’s history of abusive behaviour following which more students of the artist reached out sharing similar experiences. Some students spoke of abuse that happened as long as 20 years ago.
Kalapremi, 60, has denied the allegations. He told Nepali Times: “Some years ago, there was a movement encouraging people to hug and kiss. I used to do it purely out of friendship and love. But after seeing posts on social media last year calling out my behaviour, I realised my actions may have hurt some people. I understand now that I should have been more mindful.”
He added: “I am also an auxiliary health worker, so I know the exact points to massage to relieve menstrual pain. It’s not just menstruation, I take anyone who is ill to the hospital.”
Sexual abuse is much more rampant than reported given how difficult it is to prove it in court. The law defines sexual abuse as occuring when someone touches another’s private parts, coerces them into touching theirs, uses vulgar language, shows degrading images, or behaves indecently towards them without consent.&nbsp;
Ekta and her fellow students are consulting lawyer Suneeta Regmi Pokhrel, who says they know that even if the court decides in their favour, it is difficult to survive after speaking up, and influential men defend themselves saying they are being framed.&nbsp;
“They are in a lot of pain and weep when recalling how he abused them,” Regmi Pokhrel told us. “They are angry and have filed a case against him, but they are also terrified. They know he is a powerful man and they have seen how our society treats women who speak up against abusers. Unless people speak up, perpetrators will be emboldened.”
Art and academia in Nepal simply reflect the power imbalances in society where people with intersecting identities experience worse forms of abuse. Theatre actors Raj Kumar Pudasaini, Rajan Khatiwada, and Sunil Pokhrel were called out during the #MeToo movement in the Nepali theatre scene in 2019. Even after the allegations Pokhrel went on to receive national awards, while others continued to work without repercussions.
“If you speak up against abusers, you gradually get sidelined from projects,” explained a theatre artist who wished anonymity fearing professional setbacks. “The theatre scene in Nepal is quite small, you just have to make peace with the perpetrators and work with them if you want to sustain yourself.”&nbsp;
In academia there is a history of faculty members sexually harassing students and getting away with it. After Tribhuvan University (TU) lecturer Krishna Bhattachan was accused of harassing women students, the university said it would follow Nepal’s sexual harassment law and set up a reporting mechanism. But nothing happened to the professor, who had already retired. Instead, he counter-accused the students of 'attacking the indigenous people’s movement with baseless allegations' as <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/letters/2019/01/29/bhattachan-responds">he told the Kathmandu Post in 2019</a>. He continues to be featured as a prominent speaker including at TU.
Other faculty members previously accused of sexual harassment include Jagadish Murti Koirala from TU, Bishnu Prasad Acharya from Ratna Rajya Campus, and Bodha Raj Tripathee from Lalitpur Madhyamik Vidhyalaya. A woman staff member from TU also filed a sexual abuse complaint against Dambar Chemjong from TU.
Prominent figures like <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">mountaineer Nims Purja</a> have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/sports/mountaineering-sexual-harassment-abuse-nims-purja.html">accused of sexual assault</a>, and cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, actor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/celebrity-rape-case-spotlights-nepal-laws">Paul Shah</a>, and former speaker of Parliament <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mahara-arrested">Krishna Bahadur Mahara</a> have been accused of rape, but society-at-large has let off the alleged perpetrators amdist a larger debate about justice for survivors and punishment of perpetrators.&nbsp;
‘Gaushala-26’ is the court name given to the 18-year-old who accused Sandeep Lamichhane, former captain of Nepal’s national cricket team and skipper of Biratnagar Kings in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/here-comes-the-nepal-premier-league">ongoing Nepal Premier League</a>, of rape. She left the country citing society questioning her character affecting her mental health while Lamichhane got an outpouring of support. In May, the Patan High Court overturned a prior verdict that found Lamichhane guilty of rape and had sentenced him to eight years in prison. During the 23-month legal battle to pursue justice, Gaushala-26 faced threats of gang rape and acid attacks.&nbsp;
Exhausted by the struggle, Gaushala-26 sought to “move to a new world” where she could live free without hiding her identity.
Actress Samragyee Rajya Laxmi Shah in an Instagram video now deleted detailed the harassment she faced from a filmmaker during a movie shoot. She did not name any name but veteran actor Bhuwan KC filed a defamation case against Rana, but the court ruled that the charge lacked sufficient evidence.&nbsp;
Former Kathmandu mayor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/theytoo">Keshav Sthapit also mocked the #MeToo movement</a>, calling accusations against him by journalists Rashmila Prajapati and Ujjwala Maharjan “a rape of men’s rights”.
Serial Abuse
Back at the Kalapremi Ceramics studio, another former student, 24-year-old Rajiv, says he felt the need to speak out after seeing his female classmates being abused.&nbsp;
“He frequently kissed them on their cheeks,” he told Nepali Times. “Whenever they walked into the studio he flailed his arms like a child asking for a hug. They awkwardly hugged him from the side, but he pulled them closer, held their chin, and kissed their cheeks.”&nbsp;
Rajiv says he also saw Kalapremi pull the women’s bra straps, touch their breasts, and slap their buttocks. The young students would freeze, not knowing how to react, and if they protested, he would say it was “normal in art”. Rajiv, 19 at the time like his classmates, remembers thinking perhaps the well-respected artist was right after all.
Another student, Luna, who took lessons at Kalapremi’s studio from 2020 to 2022 did try to confront the tutor after he made an obscene proposal to her. She recalls: “One day when the other students had left the studio and it was just the two of us, he told me that God had given him special artistic talent and he could transfer those powers to me. But to do that both of us will have to be naked, inside a dark room, and have sex.”
Luna, who was 18 then, was livid and told him she did not want any of his powers, but she says he laughed at her as if he was joking. She did not tell her family about the incident because she thought no one would believe her.&nbsp;
“They were all in awe of this famous artist and felt I should be grateful that to be learning sculpting from him,” she says. “I was scared to be alone with him in case he talked about sex again. My coping mechanism was to be rude so he wouldn’t try to come close to me.”
Seeing how some classmates were standing up to Kalapremi, Ekta too tried to push back against his advances, but she said he found ways to coerce her. Since Ekta, Rajiv, and Luna could not afford Kalapremi’s Rs30,000 monthly fee for lessons, he had offered them all a stipend to assist him in the studio.
“He had spondylosis and took me to his therapy sessions to learn massage techniques, then he often made me and other students massage him,” says Ekta. Whenever she refused, he would feign pain to make her feel sorry for him. “He would insist that I put my hands under his shirt so that I could massage him better,” she adds.
The art tutor often tried to “seduce sympathy” from Ekta by sharing how he had never been loved as a child and was “sexually frustrated” as an adult.&nbsp;
“At 7PM, he would pour himself Signature whiskey and immediately go off again about how he was sex-starved. I didn’t know how to respond. It took me time to realise alcohol was just an excuse to talk about sex,” Ekta says.
If convicted, Kalapremi could face financial penalty and/or a prison sentence of up to three years according to Section 224 of National Penal (Code) Act 2017.&nbsp;
Data suggests that victims of child sexual abuse on average take nearly 24 years to tell someone about their trauma, and some may never disclose it at all.&nbsp;
“In our culture, children are rarely taught about boundaries. They often react, show anger when adults pinch their cheeks. But adults insist they did it out of love, and force the children to accept it,” says Sita Lama, a psychotherapist at Manka Kura. “And even when someone touches them inappropriately they struggle to identify and verbalise it.”
When perpetrators claim to be “acting out of love”, Lama says survivors are likely to perceive it as something safe, rather than recognising it as abuse.&nbsp;
“It may take years for them to realise they were abused,” she explains. "And even when they become aware, the power imbalance with the abuser and the associated shame often prevents survivors from speaking up."
Other former students from the School of Art at Kathmandu University have also come forward years later, saying Kalapremi sexually abused them. As young adults, they felt his behaviour was off but were uncertain if it was inappropriate, illegal, or they did not know how to respond. After having understood that it was indeed abuse, they say they are speaking out now to protect others.&nbsp;
Amina Singh, a visiting faculty member at Kathmandu University, says there is no clause against sexual abuse in contracts of teachers, and there is no formal grievance handling mechanism for the students.&nbsp;
“So the only way students can to deal with sexual abuse is approach someone they trust,” she says.
Eight other former art students of Lalit Kala Campus and Srijana College of Fine Arts of Tribhuvan University and other private art studios in Kathmandu say they were also sexually abused by their art teachers. Three faculty members interviewed from these institutions said they saw the abuse, but felt it was futile to report it given how powerful the teachers were.
In the absence of a formal system, some longtime women artists warned each other about “problematic” artists. They shared &nbsp;a “heads-up” to be more cautious when collaborating with them, and avoided responding to their calls and texts after work hours.
To ensure art institutions are safe for all, galleries, museums, artist studios, and smaller art spaces need to develop policies on sexual harassment. This would include a code of conduct or studio policies that hold the leadership accountable and outline the principles of professional ethics.&nbsp;
Students and employees should inquire about accountability mechanisms for raising concerns, both formally and informally, advocates say.
Three years after Ekta left the ceramics studio, she learnt that Kalapremi had harassed many other women. Still trying to get a footing in the art industry, she attended a workshop in Kathmandu where women artists discussed ways to stay safe in the art sector.&nbsp;
Since it was a close-knit group Ekta opened up about how she felt violated and realised she was not alone, he had been abusing underprivileged students for years, and this was common knowledge among artists in Nepal.
Ekta says that even after she quit, Kalapremi continued sending her text messages like ‘I am thinking of you’, ‘Why have you stopped speaking with me’, or ‘I am waiting for your call’.&nbsp;
But what really forced her to act was when Ekta found out that he was sending similar texts to her younger sister.&nbsp;
“I’ve had enough,” she told us. “He abused me all these years but I won’t let him abuse my sister.” &nbsp;
Ekta, Rajiv and Luna are not the real names of the students.&nbsp;

‘Art Lover’ accused of sexual abuse

It was 8:15 in the evening of 25 March 1968 when everyone in the village of Batulechaur near Pokhara heard a deafening sound like thunder as a bright flashing object hurtled down to land in a field.&nbsp; That field belonged to Kul Timilsina, and the next morning he retrieved a sheet of metal about 2m by 1m and carried it home with the help of a few others, thinking it would be useful for his buffalo shed.&nbsp; Before he died at age 83 three years ago, Timilsina had told photo archivist Sunil Ulak that the black metal sheet was not rectangular and had rounded corners. There are a few witnesses still alive who have a clear recollection of the object that fell from the sky that night.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="601" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>The field in Batulechaur belonging to Kul Timilsina where fragments of a flying object fell from the sky in 1968.</figcaption> </figure>  One of them is Timilsina’s wife Gyanu, who was 22 at the time. She had been at home, and remembers hearing the big bang and the sky becoming very bright. “We saw the thing in the field in the morning,” she told us. “It looked like a lid, a covering of some sort. The way it was stuck in the ground, it must have fallen from the sky. We thought we could use it to dry clothes on, and took it home.”&nbsp; Another witness is Kul Narayan Paudel. “I was only eight then. We ran to the field to see what had fallen. It was a four-sided metal sheet. The elders took it away, and I don't know what happened to it.” &nbsp; Ram Bahadur Baniya, a teacher at the local school, says he had heard the sheet had been brought to the school, and later handed over to the Zonal Commissioner at the time, Nanda Prasad Malla. “But that is all hearsay,” he says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="610" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Gyanu Timilsina, wife of Kul Timilsina.</figcaption> </figure>  There are two versions of what happened to Kul Timilsina’s metal sheet. One is that an American Peace Corp Volunteer teaching at the nearby Bindyabasini School took it, and another is that it was handed over to the government. Recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US State Department documents from the time say that the US Embassy in Kathmandu tracked down the object two years later and had it shipped back to the US. A telegram from the Department of State and Department of Defense tagged as ‘MOON DUST / Space Fragments’ dated 1 March 1972 stated: ‘1. Restored space fragment will be on board Embassy support flight 115 arriving Kathmandu on or about March 10. Fragment is packed in shipping crate (cargo no. 72-33365) marked in care of DAO.&nbsp; 2. State and Defense representatives examined fragments prior to shipment finding restoration acceptable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df" data-rendition-name="original" width="856" height="568" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Declassified CIA documents about the investigation into the object sighted in Pokhara. </figcaption> </figure>  The documents show that the US government, military and intelligence agencies investigated this incident thoroughly when it occurred, and have continued to revisit it ever since, as recently as five years ago. What is even more intriguing is that the object that fell in Pokhara was not the only unidentified space object that fell to earth that year. There were similar sightings of objects falling from the sky in Ladakh, Sikkim and Bhutan between 19 February and 25 March 1968.&nbsp; These mysteries were the subject of a CIA investigation in 1968 titled ‘<a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP81R00560R000100070007-8.pdf">Sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects in Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan</a>’, and the report is part of the recent online declassification of 800,000 top-secret documents from the period.&nbsp; &nbsp;Although unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have a connotation now of being alien craft, it could be pieces of satellite, missile, rocket or even aircraft. The CIA report documents six sightings in 1968 and quotes local sources as describing all of them having similar characteristics: bright blue or red streaks in the sky accompanied by loud sounds like lightning and thunder and objects falling to the ground. Aside from the metallic object that was found in Batlechaur, there were other items also found nearby in Tallakot, Tureypasal, Armalakot and Maidan. Whatever the object was, it seems to have disintegrated even before it hit the ground.&nbsp; The CIA report records the first sighting on 19 February 1968 in various parts of Sikkim and Olangchung Gola and Ghunsa in eastern Nepal. The light was said to be ‘long and thin’ and giving out ‘green and red light’. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb" data-rendition-name="original" width="892" height="596" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara "> </figure>  Two days later on 21 February, a soundless blue object was seen traveling fast across the sky above Thimphu in Bhutan. Then on 4 March there were multiple daytime sightings or white streaks in the sky at Chang La Pass, Fukche and Koyul in Ladakh. There were more sightings in Ladakh on the very day fragments fell near Pokhara on 25 March 1968.&nbsp; After the sightings in Pokhara, rumours started flying in Kathmandu that these were aliens trying to land on Earth, it could be Russian or Chinese spy planes or satellites, and some even say it as a sign from heaven that the end of the world was near. This was at the height of the Cold War. The Russians and Americans were testing their thermonuclear devices as well as intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems. The Washington-Beijing rapprochement had not yet happened, and China was making quick progress testing atomic bombs. Within two years after its first atomic test, in 1966 China exploded its first hydrogen bomb at the Lop Nur site in Xinjiang, 3,000km to the north from Nepal. After neary six decades, what is still intriguing is that all the sightings within a few months of each other in 1968 were along the Himalayan arc bordering Tibet: from Bhutan, Sikkim Nepal, to Ladakh. The US military intelligence seems to have concluded that this was not a coincidence and there were frequent research trips to the site in Pokhara by American officials in the months after the incident. With the help of the Royal Nepal Army, the region north of Pokhara was thoroughly searched.&nbsp; A confidential memo dated 25 June 1968 by Jerry C Trippy to a ‘Mr Farley’ mentions that the US Air Force’s Foreign Technology Division had decided that the debris could be important because it may be related to a Chinese missile test or a Soviet ‘Vehicle Venik’ rocket.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  On 28 August 1968 the US Embassy in Kathmandu sent a letter to Washington DC saying that the object could be of Soviet origin, possibly from when the rocket carrying the ‘Kosmos 208’ satellite re-entered the atmosphere. But why were the fragments falling to earth several weeks apart, and in the same region? No one knows where the metal sheet that Kul Timilsina recovered is now. It was definitely packed in a crate and taken to the US, and although it is rumoured that it was returned that is not very likely. Archivist Sunil Ulak heard from the Timilsina family that CIA officials had returned to the site five years ago. &nbsp; Interest in UFOs peaked in the US in the 1950s, with the Cold War space race and tests of atomic weapons and delivery rockets. CIA and scientists were being sent to investigate sightings, both publicly and privately. Could the Pokhara fragments as well as the sightings in Ladakh and Bhutan actually be alien craft falling to earth? The renewal in interest in space travel in large part due to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, UFOs and sightings are again subjects of public interest.&nbsp; Even 57 years later, even if there was definitive proof about whether the Batlechaur fragment was from a Chinese missile or a soviet rocket, it has not been made public in documents declassified so far. We may never know.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598" data-rendition-name="original" width="642" height="320" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  Sunil Ulak speculates if the debris actually came from an American aircraft, perhaps on an intel mission upon China. “Which could explain why they were so thorough in collecting the fragments in Pokhara,” he says. But that still does not explain the multiple sightings weeks apart in 1968.&nbsp; Indeed, US military aircraft were at that time flying frequent night-time missions from air force bases in India to supply weapons to Khampa guerrilla camps in Nepal located north of Pokhara in Mustang. It could very well be that the Chinese shot down one such aircraft. The other sightings could have been contrails of US spy planes, or Chinese anti-aircraft missiles.&nbsp; There were quite a few developments regarding UFOs in 2024. In a US congressional hearing in July, former intelligence officer David Grusch claimed that the government had long been involved in a program to investigate and retrieve non-human craft crashes, and then try to reverse engineer them. However Grusch did not show any evidence.&nbsp; The UAP Disclosure Act of 2024 was signed into law by Joe Biden in December 2023. It plans to oversee the public disclosure of UFO information. However, there is a clause in it that prevents disclosure if it would cause threats to military defense, intelligence operations or foreign relations.&nbsp; It is unlikely that the declassified documents about sightings in the Himalayan will cause any real surprise about definite evidence of alien life even if it was found. It seems humanity will continue, at least for now, to wonder about curious lights in the sky and whether there is anybody out there.&nbsp;

UFO over Pokhara

When Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) president Rabi Lamichhane was arrested in October on charges of defrauding depositors of cooperatives, the party’s vice president Swarnim Wagle gifted him Fareed Zakaria’s book, Age of Revolutions.
Since then, Lamichhane has been shunted around from Kathmandu to Pokhara to Chitwan and back to Pokhara to attend police investigations and court proceedings. He was being flown to Birganj via Kathmandu on Buddha Air on Monday. There is another pending case in Janakpur.
Human rights groups and civil society have criticised the government for hounding Lamichhane with inhumane treatment that borders on physical torture. The two parties in the coalition, Nepali Congress (NC) and the UML, see Lamichhane’s RSP as a potentially formidable challenge to their power.
Even if the fraud charges against Lamichhane are true, the Nepali public is increasingly looking at the government’s actions through the police and courts as political vendetta.
Despite all the travelling, sometimes by plane and often by road at night, Lamichhane appears to be in high spirits, waving to supporters who often gather if they know he is going to be driven around. A social media video shows him giving high fives to fellow passengers on a recent flight to Pokhara.&nbsp;
In the past weeks, streets in Pokhara have erupted with parallel protests by Lamichhane’s supporters as well as depositors of cooperatives who lost their savings to the scam.&nbsp;
Although family visits are allowed, prison officials in Pokhara told Nepali Times that not many people visit Lamichhane these days. He added, “When he does get visitors, he asks them to bring him books.”
Lamichhane is currently Nepal’s most high-profile public figure in custody, and highlights the stark difference between how influential prisoners are treated compared to ordinary inmates.
There are six prison cells at Kaski District Police Office’s two-story detention centre, three on each floor. And while authorities pack prisoners into already overcrowded cells, Lamichhane has an entire room on the second floor to himself.&nbsp;
He has also been allowed to call his family every few days. Other prisoners are not permitted phone calls except for emergencies.
Meanwhile, Lamichhane’s former business partner Chhabilal Joshi, an ex-Deputy Inspector General of Police with whom he established his Gorkha Media Network, is in custody under the same charges in the prison cell next to him.
Lamichhane is accused of siphoning off depositors' money to the tv network in which he was part-owner and anchor. &nbsp;
Both Lamichhane and Joshi are able to buy food from the police canteen instead of being served the regular meal like other prisoners. Joshi has also given his statement to authorities in Rupandehi and Kathmandu for his alleged role in the scam. Lamichhane is yet to be presented in Kathmandu for questioning.
While he was in custody at the Kathmandu District Police Complex, Joshi expressed his desire to sleep in a police officer’s office, reportedly assuring authorities that he would not run away and he was entitled to certain facilities as a former officer of the law.
“He seemed to be under the impression that he is still a police officer,” says a source at the Kathmandu District Police. “We made it clear to him that as someone accused of a crime, he was not entitled to special treatment.”
Former ministers Balkrishna Khand and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, and ex-home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, who were arrested in connection with the fake refugee scam last year, were similarly housed in the offices of law enforcement officials instead of prison cells. Khand has since been released after six months in jail.
While there is no legal provision to keep high-ranking officials in separate detention centres when they are arrested, authorities granting them special facilities is not uncommon. Law enforcement officials say VIP detainees expect preferential treatment while in police custody.
Among those is former Kosi Province minister Lila Ballav Adhikari, who was arrested from Biratnagar on 10 November over his alleged involvement in human trafficking and brought to Kathmandu. Adhikari had flown to Japan without government approval with three individuals on 29 October to attend a cultural conference, but had been sent back to Nepal from Narita.&nbsp;
His three companions were arrested at Kathmandu airport upon their arrival, but Adhikari was able to exit unscathed from the VIP lounge. Adhikari had resigned as the Kosi Province Minister for Internal Affairs and Law when it became public that his companions had been taken into custody, and was himself arrested shortly after. He has since been cleared by the courts.
Throughout his detention, Adhikari was kept separately from other inmates. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Basant Rajouri, head of the Bhadrakali complex, says that while there is no separate detention area for VIPs, some detainees are kept separately depending on the nature of their crime.
However, sources say that arrangements were made for retired judges and others to visit Adhikari frequently worked at the office of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) during his time in custody.&nbsp;
“He used to constantly pester the authorities to let him sit outside in the sun, and to be able to use the police officer’s shower area,” added an officer.
Adhikari was released on 25 November after the government prosecutor’s office decided not to charge him in a move that was seen to expose the government’s double standards.
Over at Kathmandu’s Dilli Bazar Prison, former Kist Bank CEO Kamal Gyawali emerges from his prison cell into the courtyard of the prison’s ‘Ka (क)’ block every morning with a thick book in his hands, ready to give his daily sermon.
With his long beard, Gyawali, who is serving a prison sentence for banking fraud, looks the part of a religious guru as he implores his rapt listeners to “walk the right path, abandon bad thoughts and turn to scripture and spirituality”.&nbsp;
Afterward, the attendees gather to discuss politics and current affairs. Inmates at his daily sermons at the prison include other high-profile detainees, including former MP Ichchha Raj Tamang, who is in jail for money laundering and cooperatives fraud, former joint secretary Chudamani Sharma, who was convicted of corruption, as well as NC leader Chandra Bahadur Lama and Krishna Bahadur Upreti of the UML both of whom are on trial for embezzling billions of rupees.
Victims of the cooperatives scam that former lawmaker Tamang was involved in have made trips to the prison and requested visits, but he has refused to meet with any of them.
“Tamang often complains that the state has prevented him from returning the money to the victims by locking him up,” says a police officer at the Dili Bazar jail.
“All you hear every day from the VIP prisoners is that they have been framed,” adds the officer. “No one admits that they were involved in misdeeds.”
But while most high-profile prisoners complain about prison conditions, one exception is former provincial lawmaker Deepak Manange, who is serving a sentence at Dilli Bazar Jail for attempted murder.
“He is the happiest prisoner here,” says a warden. “Unlike the others, he doesn’t claim to have been framed, in fact he doesn’t seem to care that he is in prison.”
Manange is detained in the ‘Kha (ख)’ block of the prison complex, which he renovated at his own expense. The block previously housed female prisoners, but Manange used his influence to transfer them elsewhere. He faces no shortage of visitors, who range from political leaders to people from the underworld.
Along with Manange, other well-known prisoners in this block include Nepal Telecom Managing Director Sunil Poudel, and former executive director of the Surakshan Printing Centre Bikal Poudel, who are serving time for corruption.
Former prisoners at Dilli Bazar prison include ex-ministers Khum Bahadur Khadka and Shyam Sundar Gupta, NC leader Ganesh Lama, Maoist MP Balkrishna Dhungel, Nagarik Unmukti Party leader Resham Chaudhary, as well as former IGs Ramesh Chand Thakuri, Om Bikram Rana, and Hem Bahadur Gurung.
Section 54 of Nepal’s Prison Act assigns each prison’s internal administration the
responsibility of governing its prisoners, which means the more favourable the jail management is, the more comfortable it is for prisoners.
Dilli Bazar prison has been the prison of choice for many high-ranking prisoners, especially those convicted of white collar crimes, due to its more accommodating administrators. The prison, which has the capacity to house 700 inmates, is also less crowded than other jails.
Anuj Bhattarai, spokesperson of the Department of Prison Management, says that there is no legal classification in Nepal for felons to be assigned prisons based on the nature of their crimes.
“That Dilli Bazar Jail has a higher number of prisoners convicted of crimes like corruption is most likely a coincidence,” says Bhattarai. “There is no provision for influential people to be able to choose where they will be incarcerated.”&nbsp;
Translated by Shristi Karki from the Nepali original published in himalkhabar.com

What Nepal’s VIP prisoners do in jail

If you were raised in Nepal, you must have picked up its unique set of vocabulary: आन्दोलन, चक्का जाम, बन्द, राँके जुलुस, आफ्नो मान्छे, हाम्रो दल, कर्फु and many more words connoting political protest.
We became familiar with the acrid smell of burning tyres, and eyes smarting from tear gas. And yet, everyone speaks of another revolution in the making. Not by desire, but by suffocation.
We heard speeches about नयाँ नेपाल, but the New Nepal never arrived. The governance system changed, but it did not reflect on people’s lives — except for those close to centres of power. The state is still unreachable and is not bothered about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/matter-of-life-and-debt">victims of loan sharks</a>, cooperative scams and other injustices.
Politicians continue to speak in sound bites, but fail to deliver. They have mastered the game of pointing fingers towards an external enemy and convincing people that they are never at fault. The political narrative is so disconnected from the actual analysis of the problem that suffocation doesn’t go away after every revolution.
No genuine effort has been made to deliver at all, which is why there is a palpable sense of disillusionment in the air forcing us to seek another revolution, even if Nepal may not be able to afford it.
How has the current system successfully held power, even if the public is deeply frustrated? How is it that for three decades we continue to be led by the same faces, who have time and again, proved to us that they may be great politicians but not national leaders?
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/improving-internet-governance-in-nepal">My experience at the epicentre of politics</a> has led me to identify three cultures that have enabled political parties to keep a tight hold on power: acceptance, silence and dependency.
We accept things the way they are. We use fatalistic phrases like “नेपालमा यस्तै हो” or “नेपालको कानुन दैब जानुन”. While this resilience enables us to rise back up from devastating calamities, it is also a reason for our compliance with the status quo.
Despite so many ‘revolutions’ that have led to significant reforms, these phrases keep getting reinforced, to the point that the upcoming generations have made it their lingo.&nbsp;
This acceptance is not a symbol of law-abiding citizens, but citizens living in fear of those in power, unable to ask the whys and why-nots.
Innovation suffocates in this culture of acceptance of the status quo. This is manifested in remarks like “but we don’t have any laws for this,” or “we don’t have the capacity to implement this”. An innovator or entrepreneur therefore has to spend that energy to become a political lobbyist, often educating and convincing the bureaucracy.&nbsp;
Remember when locally assembled <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/designed-and-made-in-nepal">Yatri motorbikes</a>, despite having willing customers, had to suffer to secure license numbers because of a lack of regulations? Instead of creating new laws, the government kept chanting the “We will promote Nepal-made goods” mantra, leaving entrepreneurs in a labyrinth of bureaucracy. The weight of acceptance of the law lies heavily on innovators. Fatalism is a tactic used by those in power to generate mass fear in society.
When we accept, we become silent. This is a pervasive phenomenon. We are trained to keep quiet, lest we ruffle feathers, burn bridges, or not get the help we need in future. We know, yet we don’t speak.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/bureaucratic-hurdles-in-researching-nepals-bureaucracy">Bureaucratic hurdles in researching Nepal's bureaucracy</a>, Daniel W Edwards
Here is one example: the 2021 census shows that the number of baby boys born for every 100 baby girls is 112. This is a clear indication of female foeticide because of boy preference in society.
Despite such horrifying realities, there is finger-pointing within the government between the Ministry of Health and Population with the Ministry of Home Affairs. At the citizen level, we know those who are involved in killing girls. Yet, we don’t speak up. The Nepal Medical Council reports state that despite this gender imbalance at birth, there is no indication of any action.
But why would anyone speak against one's own fraternity, no matter how vile the act is?
When we accept and keep quiet, we become dependent on those who yield power. From getting our government procedure completed on time to getting transfers, to accessing any of our legally protected rights as well, we are forced to depend on our networks of चिनेको मान्छे people we know by blood, village, relations, political affiliation.
The culture of dependency has been the established way in Nepal. If you drive a two-wheeler or four-wheeler, and you get into a small accident, you will be asked to sort it yourself, dialing up the most powerful person you know. It becomes a competition of who knows who.
Recently I was told that there were calls from the Ministry of Health and Population and another from the Prime Minister's Office for just one medical position in a private hospital. Each was pushing its own candidate. Guess which candidate got the position.&nbsp;
The dependency of people is not on the laws or the state, it is with people in power, a reliance on the network of somebody who knows somebody, including those not officially in power.
These cultures are deeply ingrained in our heads, and in society. Collectively they form a vicious circle that helps those in power to retain power. This is not the society we want to live in.
Then, what do we do as a collective to break away from this? How do we break away from the cultures of acceptance and silence that have created this dependency? What can we do to ensure that our children do not have to learn the jargon of आन्दोलन before they learn about the state?
These are the cultures political parties need to shed rather than use them to perpetuate their power. This is what <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/an-alternative-to-alternative-politics-in-nepal">alternative politics</a> needs to be about.
Sumana Shrestha is a member of Parliament’s Education, Health and Information Technology parliamentary committee and represents the Rastriya Swatantara Party.

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