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Nepali nurses gone and going to the UK

News of Nepali migrant workers being <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/migration-not-a-wish-but-necessity-for-nepalis">cheated, abused and exploited</a> make headlines every day, but they overshadow stories of many who return with earnings and exposure to start anew back home, or contribute from afar. &nbsp;
Recruitment and employment malpractices obscure the predictability of emigration outcomes. It can be transformative, but in many cases it is not.
We have in this paper previously <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-lottery-of-migration">likened it to a lottery</a> in which desperate Nepalis are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/no-country-for-young-men">forced to gamble with their future</a>.&nbsp;
Bilateral labour agreements between Nepal and host countries can ensure a better managed migration process in which there is a greater guarantee of worker welfare. One such government-to-government (G2G) agreement is between Nepal and the UK.
Since 20 July, Britain and Nepal have started accepting <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-nurses-gone-and-going-to-the-uk">applications for nurses under the bilateral scheme</a>. In its pilot phase, 100 nurses will be recruited at zero cost, and enjoy equal benefits and protection with others in the UK.
Such transparency can allow more predictable consequences for workers seeking jobs overseas. A bonus is their ability to take their spouse and children along, and that the agreement will benefit mainly female workers.
<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/new-uk-job-options-for-nepalis-2vckaq2m">Nurse emigration</a> also highlights the sorry state of their employment conditions in Nepal. One nurse listed three problems nurses face: lack of respect, low wages and overwork. Indeed, nurses have to work for as little as Rs15,000 a month in private hospitals in Nepal after spending millions on their degrees.
These are all results of neglect of the nursing profession by the state. It is therefore hardly surprising that nurses are moving overseas to meet a global shortage of healthcare professionals.
If not the UK, Australia or the US, it is the UAE or Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-based nurse said she left because she had to do one full time and one part time job to make Rs23,000 a month in Nepal, while she saves more than four times the amount in Saudi Arabia for an 8 hour shift with all expenses covered.
If working conditions and salaries do not improve, the more apt question may soon be why nurses stay, rather than why they leave.
There are challenges abroad as well. Britain is itself facing strikes over pay disputes for nurses. But as one UK-based nurse told us, despite the struggle, earning and learning prospects are better there.
<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/human-flight">Emigration</a> is linked to aspirations and desires. And improving the domestic labour market and outmigration are not mutually exclusive. What nurses are escaping from merits attention, but so does what they will be facing abroad.&nbsp;
Those who choose to leave can then maximise the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/making-overseas-migration-better">benefits of overseas opportunities</a> that are rife with high recruitment fees and insufficient protection.
In the UK, there are also voices being raised about importing nurses for cheap from Red Zone countries with fragile health systems like Nepal.
A managed bilateral agreement makes migration better for nurses who will benefit from the scheme as they can compete in a fair environment.&nbsp;
But Nepal should also go <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-and-malaysia-rewrite-rules-for-migrant-labour">beyond traditional labour agreements</a> to enter into mutually beneficial skills partnership models that would also support health training and infrastructure back home. This requires proactive diplomacy, thinking outside the box and a realisation that benefits of migration can go beyond remittances.
Nepal needs to view its diaspora as its strength and seek ways to engage those abroad. As UK-based nurse Binod Simkhada says, “To contribute to Nepal, one does not need to be in Nepal.” At the Nepal Nursing Association in UK, he was involved in establishing a birthing center in Jumla that was recently handed over to the local government.
In many cases, Nepalis can provide more help from outside than from within Nepal, given better access to resources and networks. And for those who come back, reintegration policies are overdue to leverage the social and financial remittances returnees bring home.
As the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-family-spread-across-kuwait-cyprus-uae">Nepali Times Diaspora Diaries series</a> show, good migration can be transformative and help families break out of intergenerational poverty. Because the government took a proactive initiative on managed migration of nurses to the UK, the 100 nurses could have life-changing stories.
But that by no means absolves the Nepal government from its responsibility of ensuring that nurses here are treated with respect and earn liveable wages. It is the least the state can do.

Nepal’s nurse flight

<figure><img width="1499" height="602" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151120/636d08c09c7e80680e0a6036jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Actor Michael Palin and Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.</figcaption></figure>British actor Michael Palin and Amnesty International on Wednesday called on the UK government to redistribute surplus Covid-19 vaccines to those most at risk in Nepal and other countries.
In Nepal, recovery from a deadly second wave in May has stalled with cases and fatalities rising again after the government relaxed lockdown rules last month, even while only less than 4% of the population was fully vaccinated.
In addition, more than 1.4 million Nepalis above 65 who received their first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine in March and were due their second jab in early June, are still waiting for their jabs. 
“Having travelled in Nepal and met so many of their people, I am devastated that more than a million lives in Nepal are at risk," said British actor Michael Palin. "I am calling on the UK government to share its vaccine supply immediately with Nepal and other countries where those most at-risk have yet to have access to Covid-19 vaccines.”
Palin joined the <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ASA3143012021ENGLISH.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ASA3143012021ENGLISH.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627569910589000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEwYc7OIAEMZScyJbHsYs3U-gnjig">Amnesty International</a> call on the international community, particularly wealthier countries such as the UK, to urgently share unused vaccine doses and take other concrete measures to seriously tackle global vaccine inequality.
Expected supplies for the second dose did not reach Nepal due to India's ban on export of Covishield, and the global shortage of vaccines. Following an appeal to the international community, Japan has committed to fill this gap. 
The UK government on Thursday announced <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-begins-donating-millions-of-covid-19-vaccines-overseas" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">9 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine</a> to the global COVAX facility to be donated starting this week. The first countries to receive the consignment are Indonesia (600,000 doses), Kenya (817,000) and Jamaica (300,000). It is not yet known if Nepal is on the list.
But for now, vaccine or no vaccine, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/keep-wearing-masks-after-the-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mask and separation</a> is the best protection. 
Globally more than four million lives have now been lost, healthcare systems continue to crack under the pressure, and the light at the end of the tunnel is still out of sight for most of the world, especially where there is an acute shortage of vaccines.
Said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International: “The UK has already fully immunised more than 50% of its population in roughly six months. In contrast, Nepal has only been able to fully vaccinate 3.97% of its population and has not received deliveries as scheduled amid another deadly wave of infections."
She added: "These figures paint a stark picture of unforgivable inequality. Wealthy nations cannot simply keep turning a blind eye, as their neighbour’s house burns down. We aren’t talking in abstracts – we are talking about people’s rights to life."
She said that Japan's commitment to send 1.6million doses to Nepal within the next few weeks, while a welcome move, was "sadly only a band-aid, not a global solution".
Callamard added: "Sooner rather than later, leaders must realise that viruses don’t care about borders. We need bolder action from the international community, particularly wealthier states like the UK, the European Union, Canada and the United States who are sitting on unused doses, much of which may expire at any moment."
Nepal is one of many countries currently facing acute vaccine shortages. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/leading-public-figures-call-on-uk-government-for-oxygen-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/leading-public-figures-call-on-uk-government-for-oxygen-for-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627569910589000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGo1xtfJChYMwwhe4Lz6QKUd1VZcg">Palin had earlier joined l</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/leading-public-figures-call-on-uk-government-for-oxygen-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/leading-public-figures-call-on-uk-government-for-oxygen-for-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627569910589000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGo1xtfJChYMwwhe4Lz6QKUd1VZcg">eading figures</a>including Gurkha activist Joanna Lumley, mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington, Oxford vaccine researcher Andrew Pollard and others to send lifesaving oxygen equipment and medical supplies to Nepal during the peak in May when 250 Nepalis were dying every day from Covid-19.
The daily death rate in Nepal had come down to 15, but rose again on Friday to 33, with nearly 4,000 new confirmed cases in 24 hours. The active cases nationwide are now nearly 30,000 again with the lifting of the lockdown. 
On Tuesday, the health ministry in Kathmandu ordered all provincial hospitals to start stockpiling at least 1,000 cylinders of oxygen to prepare for what might be a second peak in the second wave.
Amnesty International quoted experts as saying that at the current pace of vaccinations, it will take <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/more-million-covid-deaths-4-months-g7-leaders-failed-break-vaccine-monopolies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/more-million-covid-deaths-4-months-g7-leaders-failed-break-vaccine-monopolies&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627569910589000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG1wPHJl5tLBgHktRtFYWf1qMugAw" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">57 years for all countries to be fully vaccinated</a> and the latest data shows that 85% of vaccine doses have been administered in richer countries, with only 0.3% in low-income countries. 
Countries such as the UK, which ordered enough doses to vaccinate its whole population three times over, must do their part to resolve global vaccine inequality now, Amnesty added.

Renewed call on UK to rush vaccines to Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d07f09c7e80680e0a5febjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1365"/><figcaption>Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>For the first time in weeks, Nepal recorded more than 3,000 new cases on 20 July. There were 25 deaths. The country is on the tail end of what has been a deadly second wave, but the rate of decline in infections and mortality has stalled.Public health officials blame it on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandu-covid-19-lockdown-relaxed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sudden reopening following two-months of lockdown</a> in which many mingled without masks, low vaccination rate, and minimal testing and tracing.While some experts say Nepal and India are now safe against another major surge of the Delta variant that was largely responsible for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-real-cost-of-nepals-second-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the second wave</a>, others warn of a third wave if safety measures are not enforced.The Delta mutant is now ravaging Indonesia, and spreading across Europe and North America. And scientists say it has affected mostly countries and regions with low vaccination rates.“The third wave is a matter of when not if. And if we don’t vaccinate as many people as soon as possible, there will be a continued threat of more dangerous variants, and we will be repeating the whole cycle,” warns Buddha Bansyat, a physician at the Patan Academy of Health Sciences.So far, Nepal has fully vaccinated 1,158,130 people, 3.6% of its total population. Some 10% Nepalis have received the first dose of either AstraZeneca Covishield, Chinese Sinopharm VeroCell or <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/johnson-johnson-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">single-shot Johnson &amp; Johnson</a> jabs.Another 8 million doses of various Covid-19 vaccines are expected by September – some purchased from China, more doses from COVAX, as well as a direct grant from Japan. This should take the total fully vaccinated population near 20%, which together with antigen positive population could cushion the impact of a possible third wave.“We have now moved on from vaccinating <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/spared-at-first-elderly-hit-hard-by-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the elderly</a> and frontline workers to groups less at risk of the Covid-19, and we have more vaccines in the  pipeline,” says Shyam Raj Uprety, head of government's Covid Vaccine Strategy. “We have applied to buy 10.5 million more doses of vaccines from the COVAX at a subsidised rate.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d07f39c7e80680e0a5fecjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="448" height="537"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Indian public health experts have projected the third wave to hit that country in late August. What happens in India usually follows in Nepal within 12-13 days, and if that is true this time too, Nepal cannot be  unprepared like in March.“If the vaccination program progresses as smoothly as it is happening now compared to the first two surges, the third wave might not be as significant if it happens at all. By Dasain, a significant chunk of Nepalis should have been vaccinated,” explains Sameer Dixit of Centre for Molecular Dynamics Nepal.Apart from vaccines, in case of a sudden surge, hospitals need to be ready with sufficient beds and ICUs, oxygen, life-saving medical equipment, drugs and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/helping-nepalis-breathe-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">functioning oxygen plants</a>. Hospitals must also prepare their paediatric wards since the third wave could affect a younger population.Since the peak of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/we-knew-the-tsunami-was-approaching/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">second wave</a> when there were close to 10,000 new cases a day and over 200 daily fatalities, international donors have been supplying essential medical equipment to Nepal.The Health Ministry received 385 ventilators and 970 oxygen concentrators in May June from various donors. District hospitals at local levels have also received direct supplies from aid agencies. These should be in running  condition and on standby instead of being stockpiled in Kathmandu, say doctors interviewed for this report.With the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-start-trickling-into-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vaccine supply chain less constrained</a>, there is now a debate about reprioritising the doses and a more strategic distribution of supply. Some experts have suggested a ‘firewall strategy’ wherein densely populated cities are fully vaccinated to reduce transmission, and to revive  the economy that will in turn restore jobs.Equitable vaccination is ideal, but in epidemiological terms inoculating a thinly-spread population is not the best use of limited doses. Inoculating  younger adults mean they are less likely to carry the virus and transmit it to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lessons-not-learned-from-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">children</a>, the largely unvaccinated group. Even within cities, the focus must be on the urban poor in congested areas.“Moving forward, we must now prioritise crowded cities and highly mobile groups for vaccination to help blunt the effect of another wave and save as many lives as possible,” says Sher Bahadur Pun, a virologist at Teku Hospital.However, epidemiologist Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa worries that focusing in cities may mean the underserved are neglected. “While reprioritising, our strategy should be such that the supply isn’t misused and the neediest aren’t missed out.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d07f59c7e80680e0a5fedjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1366"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>At present VeroCell and J&amp;J vaccination drives are running in parallel across Nepal. Soon, the Japanese grant of 1.4 million <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/despite-doubts-nepal-sticks-with-astrazeneca-jabs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AstraZeneca</a> will be used to inoculate the elderly who have been waiting for four months for their second doses.Social media is rife with speculation about the jabs and who should and shouldn’t get it, leading to widespread confusion and vaccine hesitancy. People are also comparing the efficacy level of one vaccine against the other.“Let’s take any vaccine available, they do what they are supposed to do, prevent deaths and hospitalisations in most cases,” says Buddha Basnyat.  “I encourage people with heart conditions, cancer and liver diseases to vaccinate, they are high-risk group, as well as pregnant women.”According to Public Health England, Covid-19 vaccines have so far  prevented 13,200 deaths and 39,700 hospitalisations in the United  Kingdom, even while the country sees a surge in Delta variant cases.As Nepalis inoculate against SARS-CoV-2, people are starting to forgo <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/staying-safe-in-2021-and-beyond/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">safety measures</a> even if the majority of the population remains unvaccinated. They are back on the streets taking part in political rallies and conducting crowded indoor meetings. Jam-packed and poorly- managed vaccination centres could themselves be super spreaders.Says Sameer Dixit: “In midst of vaccines, variants and new surges, we cannot forget masks and physical distancing, it is still our first line of  defence against the coronavirus.”

Sonia Awale

Vaccines, variants and a third wave

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d07d99c7e80680e0a5fe2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1366"/><figcaption>Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>The world is at a tipping point in the battle to contain the spread of Covid-19. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/hope-hyperbole-and-hypocrisy-of-covax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Countries across Asia are struggling to access vaccines</a> while tens of thousands are dying from the disease. Richer countries are sitting on enough doses to vaccinate their populations many times over.Sharing vaccine doses right now is our best shot if we are to prevent further catastrophe in Asia.Recently the G20 countries with 80% of the world's wealth held a global health summit and called for <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/e006598.full_.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sharing of vaccines and production technology</a> between nations.Pharmaceutical companies made commitments to sell cut-price vaccines to lower income countries. Some companies and countries have offered intellectual property waivers or sharing of technologies on Covid-19 vaccines. The United States and Europe offered to share more vaccines and the raw materials for manufacturing. These are all positive moves. Formany parts of Asia, the burning issue now is speed.Countries with vaccine stockpiles need to sell or share their millions of excess doses either directly or via the <a href="https://www.who.int/initiatives/act-accelerator/covax">global COVAX facility</a> to help save lives in countries experiencing record death rates. And they need to do so as quickly as possible.We only need to look at Britain and the United States to see how mass vaccination can help contain the disease. In the United Kingdom, Covid-19 vaccines have so far <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-vaccine-surveillance-report-published/">prevented 13,200 deaths and 39,700 hospitalisations</a> according to Public Health England. In the race against new waves, new variants, and new tragedies, we need such good news at a global level too.<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-cases">Eight of the 10 countries</a> in the world that are seeing infections double the fastest are in Asia and the Pacific. Many of these countries, such as Fiji and Timor Leste have low vaccination rates and fragile health systems.Many countries in Asia, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal are down to their last doses, forcing authorities to suspend or scale down their vaccine rollouts. Just 3% of people in India and less than 1% in the Philippines <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations">have been fully vaccinated</a>, according to Oxford University's Our World in Data.A majority of Asian and other lower income nations simply cannot compete with richer countries in the race to buy vaccines. Pakistan has ordered enough doses to inoculate only 3% of its population, while the European Union has enough to vaccinate its population 3.5 times over, according to Duke Global Health Innovation Center.It's not just about purchasing power. It's also about the resources needed to distribute and vaccinate. Britain is vaccinating people 13 times faster than Nepal, while the United States is administering more than 2.5 times as many doses per day as India for every 100 people.Even with limited supplies, countries across Asia are rushing to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-too-little-too-late-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vaccinate as many people as possible</a>. Every day, millions of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/protecting-those-who-protect-us-from-covid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">frontline health workers</a>, including Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers, are risking their own safety to provide lifesaving medical treatment and immunisations. These staff and volunteers needed to be vaccinated as a priority so they can make other people safe. Many critical workers have still not received even a first dose.I am writing this from Malaysia, which has one of the highest Covid-19 infection rates in the world. Intensive care units and hospitals in many countries around Asia are full. Judging from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/we-knew-the-tsunami-was-approaching/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">what we've seen in India and Nepal</a>, demand for oxygen will outweigh supply in countries across the continent and many people will die, people who wouldn't die if they were vaccinated.The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is supporting the vaccine roll out, working with health authorities to run vaccination centres, keeping people safe with clean water, soap and hygiene, and delivering <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/helping-nepalis-breathe-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">oxygen supplies</a>. It all helps but is a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed to contain Covid-19.The only solution is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/no-country-is-safe-until-we-are-all-safe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">immediate vaccination</a> to scale at record rates. Scaling up production and sharing intellectual property rights will both make a huge difference in the medium term. In the short term, sharing surplus vaccine doses is one of the fastest ways to save lives. If there ever was a global imperative for the world to act in solidarity, it is now.Alexander Matheou is Asia Pacific Director at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Global solidarity needs intensive care in pandemic battle

<figure><img width="2048" height="1364" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d05fb9c7e80680e0a5f3ajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>There is breaking news every other day: the United States donates 2 million Moderna shots to Bangladesh and Pakistan. Denmark announces 250,000 AstraZeneca doses to Bhutan. Japan pledges surplus AZ vaccines to Sri Lanka and the Pacific Islands.Nepal is never in the news, even though <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lonely-wait-of-nepals-elderly-for-2nd-doses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1.4 million people still wait for their second doses</a> of Covishield AZ vaccines and another 20 million people need to be inoculated before a possible third wave this year. So far, Nepal has only been gifted or bought vaccines from India, China or the COVAX initiative. It has not even got 1 million vaccines from Serum Institute India that it paid for, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/no-vax-ask-for-mask/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">all other promises from western countries were never kept</a>.  Nepal’s vaccine diplomacy has failed miserably. And the only silver lining is that there are four million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm VeroCell starting next week to immediately inoculate its above 55 population.Nepal is still recording an excess of 2,000 new cases a day and is seeing a slight daily increase following the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandu-covid-19-lockdown-relaxed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">relaxation in travel restrictions</a>. Everyone, the public and the government, seem to have forgotten that the real peak during the first wave last year took place only after the lockdown was eased.“The third wave is already on its way, our figures are going up and we must assume we will be hit by new variants,” says Buddha Basnyat, a physician at Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS). “We must vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible, if not we will get more difficult variants that are potentially resistant to the vaccines.”In other news, the Oxford Vaccine Group which developed the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine has found that administering two doses 44-45 weeks produced the highest antibody boost. This news, announced by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/im-sad-vaccines-are-delayed-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Andrew Pollard</a>, one of the developers of the AZ, is glad tidings for countries like Nepal where people above 65 are waiting for their second doses.Pollard said antibody levels remained elevated for close to a year with <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/ten-month-gap-between-astrazeneca-doses-sees-highest-antibody-boost-oxford-study/article35019890.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a ten-month gap between AZ doses</a>, as well as antibody levels twice that after the second dose among volunteers who were administered a third booster dose, pointing to a long-term, possibly life long immunity, also against variants.“This is great news for the elderly, many of whom are panicking, unable to get their second dose in the recommended time frame. The additional time the study has afforded us shouldn’t lead to complacency in our effort to procure vaccines,” says Sher Bahadur Pun, an epidemiologist at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital. <figure><img width="950" height="633" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d05fe9c7e80680e0a5f3bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Norway, Czech Republic and Denmark have unused AZ shots they want to donate to Nepal, but have been forced to go through <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/hope-hyperbole-and-hypocrisy-of-covax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">COVAX, which is unlikely to deliver</a> the doses before the end of 2021.On 1 July, Denmark announced that it would donate 250,000 vaccines to Bhutan. However, it is understood that these grants still need to be facilitated by the EU. Also in the news this week is the result of a new modelling study published in the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s medical journal Eurosurveillance that further strengthens the link between <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/despite-doubts-nepal-sticks-with-astrazeneca-jabs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AZ vaccines and a rare blood clot</a>.The study models four months of a vaccine distribution strategy in France from May 2021 and concludes that using AZ on the entire adult population would avert 10 deaths from Covid among 18-39-year-olds. However, it would be associated with 21 deaths from blood clots in the same age group over the same time period. In other words, <a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40328123.html?type=amp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">clot risk to younger people from the AZ vaccine</a> is twice as high as Covid death risk. But public health experts in Nepal maintain that the benefit of mass vaccination still far outweighs the risk. “Similar studies in the context of the South Asian population are needed but as it is, transmission risk of Covid is much higher than the individual risk of blood clots here,” says epidemiologist Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa.Buddha Basnyat of PAHS concurs: “The UK with over half of its population fully vaccinated is now being hit by the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covids-regional-threat-needs-regional-response/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">delta variant</a>, although it has been largely spared from severity due to the mass inoculation. Nepal being mostly unvaccinated is unprotected both from transmission and severity. This should show us where our priority should lie.”The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control finding about clot risk therefore could indirectly be a blessing in disguise for countries like Nepal by further freeing up AZ stockpiles in Europe, as well as Korea and Japan.Even so, blood clot risk has prompted leaders including Germany’s Angela Markel to opt for Moderna as a booster shot to her first dose of AZ jab.Several EU nations including Germany have said mix-and-match doses are safe for Covid prevention, which according to new findings also point to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57636356" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a better immune response</a>. This could also offer much-needed flexibility when vaccine supplies are uneven or limited.“We need to introduce mixing and matching also in Nepal in the face of more virulent delta variants, particularly for the elderly who are at the higher risk of developing severity from an infection, instead of waiting endlessly for Covishield,” says Basnyat.At a time when Nepal is yet to recover from a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-real-cost-of-nepals-second-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">devastating second surge</a>, only an equitable vaccination strategy will prevent an even more deadly third wave. But a mere 2.6% of Nepal’s population has been fully vaccinated, and less than 9% has received a single dose of either Covishield or VeroCell shots.  <figure><img width="1594" height="898" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06009c7e80680e0a5f3cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>And even the doses are unevenly distributed within the country. More than half the first dose of VeroCell was distributed in Bagmati province, according to the government’s own figures. Moreover, 97% of the booster jabs of VeroCell were used only in Bagmati Province. “We are seeing a similar kind of disparity in vaccination that we saw in testing, concentrated in urban centres and in particular Kathmandu,” notes epidemiologist Lhamo Yanghen Sherpa. “The excuse for using most of the doses in Kathmandu is that people elsewhere refused to inoculate. If that’s the case what is the government and others doing to dispel vaccine myths?” Virologist Sher Bahadur Pun says the government should immediately deploy its 60,000 or so <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/enlisting-female-health-volunteers-to-fight-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">female community volunteers</a> and healthcare workers who have historically done such effective work in non-Covid childhood vaccination drives.He adds, “They are spread across the country and are best placed to communicate the significance of vaccines and increase vaccination uptakes at  local levels.”

Vaccines too little, too late for Nepal?

<figure><img width="722" height="482" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111152/636b86609c7e80680e06784ejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>The flood of social media posts of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/aid-pours-into-nepal-but-where-be-vaccines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/aid-pours-into-nepal-but-where-be-vaccines/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFw4HGIaJzWsPjE6KDbOCN9BO71nA">donated medical supplies</a> being unloaded at Kathmandu airport every day, gives the impression that the outside world cares more about the humanitarian emergency in Nepal than the country’s own leaders.
This week proved that the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-sets-elections-in-middle-of-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-sets-elections-in-middle-of-pandemic/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGnYd3WYcqcWZhTuAO1fDLmr6DWrw">Nepali politicians still do not get it</a>. Except for the chatting classes locked up at home, not many Nepalis follow, or care, about a dissolved Parliament, elections in November, or writs at the Supreme Court. They are preoccupied with trying to prevent relatives from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/helping-nepalis-breathe-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/helping-nepalis-breathe-again/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG0TkkaP2byuZ7gTldxbjVgjSti9w">breathing their last</a>.
Prime Minister K P Oli has proven that he is not just a shrewd manipulator, but also has elastic ethics. In the past year, he has shown that he will stop at nothing: split the NCP that he himself united, dismantle his own UML, dissolve a Parliament in which he had a two-thirds majority. All is fair, it seems, in love and politics. 
Nepalis might have followed the political games in Kathmandu more closely if the alternatives to Oli inspired more confidence. But they are all tried, tested and failed ex-prime ministers themselves. The main contender Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress lined himself up to be PM for the fifth time, and has still not given up.
The crises due to the pandemic would have been the opportunity to form a national unity government, and work together to fight the virus. This would be the time for all the parties to skip a generation and bring up some young do-ers. That is what they may have done if this was a war. But <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/this-is-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/this-is-war/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEWgT9G992ZUlwbDLKjh5yVL3iW-A">this is a war</a>.
The needs are great: ensuring <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/its-an-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/its-an-emergency/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEbjbLTsFcBFUFjyD0KkohRt6dD0w">adequate oxygen supply</a>, rushing relief for the millions who have lost their income during the lockdowns, ensuring that ICU care is available and affordable to the general public, and negotiating a reliable vaccine pipeline. Preoccupied with politicking, the leaders had little time for any of this. 
Most of Nepal’s politically-appointed ambassadors overseas are more beholden to their patrons back home than to the people. With the exceptions of our female envoys in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-diaspora-comes-to-the-rescue/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-diaspora-comes-to-the-rescue/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHqcfVevxxV6taMreBzCHkR2W-pNw">Oman and Spain</a>, other missions have not stepped up to the task of conveying the emergency like we did after the 2015 earthquake.
The oxygen cylinders and medical equipment that have arrived are mostly through donations from the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-diaspora-comes-to-the-rescue/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-diaspora-comes-to-the-rescue/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHqcfVevxxV6taMreBzCHkR2W-pNw">Nepali diaspora</a>, citizens groups that have mobilised through social media, and friends of Nepal. 
No wonder the rest of the world does not take us seriously. When a state does not demonstrate accountability towards its own citizens, there is little trust even from governments that genuinely want to help, to provide urgently needed material. 
And there is not much the outside world can do when the malaise is within. Nepal has to resolve its own governance crisis that has messed up its Covid-19 response. 
Having said that, the international community could show more concern for the urgent need for vaccines. There are many flights bearing ventilators, concentrators, PPEs and test kits, but much vacillation on vaccines. 
Nepal is not getting the urgent help it needs to immediately vaccinate 1.4 million people whose default date for the second dose is now. On Monday, the government extended the dose gap to 16 weeks in the hope that someone somewhere will quickly send the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/despite-doubts-nepal-sticks-with-astrazeneca-jabs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/despite-doubts-nepal-sticks-with-astrazeneca-jabs/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG_KLW5M52MZ3Y7ijjHYNDTM3xYdQ">AstraZeneca (AZ)</a> vaccines we paid the Serum Institute of India for, but which were never delivered.
This is a major <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-is-a-priority-for-vaccine-shipments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-is-a-priority-for-vaccine-shipments/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGmt0XUUHhxlq6n1BtsGFdw3YfM_w">failure of Nepal’s vaccine diplomacy</a>, but it is also India, Britain, the EU, US, the WHO that have let us down in this hour of need. We get it that vaccines are now a geo-strategic item, and countries are stockpiling it for the third wave. But some countries have enough doses to vaccinate their populations several times over, at a time when their own citizens are refusing to take AZ because of the panic over clots. 
Across France, AZ vaccines are being dumped because they are nearing expiry, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-needs-urgent-american-vaccine-support/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-needs-urgent-american-vaccine-support/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHGyEJVpvRxkfBu00MFW-UbFzLJxQ">United States has a cache</a> of 80 million Covid-19 vaccines, and nearly half its population refuses to be vaccinated. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF0Zuj2D_3iMclB9cP3qSBYR8nxPQ">Ship the shots </a>to people who want and need the vaccines.
We would like to see fewer Tweets of donated items that Nepal can afford to buy, and more timetables for vaccine deliveries.

Vacillating on vaccines

<figure><img width="1236" height="856" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85a09c7e80680e067804jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure><h2>1. Oxygen</h2> To save lives, Nepal’s most urgent need now is oxygen. Not just cylinders, but oxygen generators, concentrators and liquid oxygen. Most infected people are not succumbing to Covid-19, they are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/helping-nepalis-breathe-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dying because of low oxygen saturation</a> in the blood, and lack of hospital beds -- patients who need not have died of coronavirus. Dire as the situation is in the cities, Nepal’s pandemic has now <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepals-humanitarian-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">infiltrated the remotest villages</a> where there is no hospital care and no oxygen. The virus is preying on people already suffering malnutrition, previous ailments, and decades of structural state neglect. In Rolpa, Humla and other remote districts, between 80-90% of PCR tests are coming back positive, and it takes a week to get results. Patients are either not isolating, or not following precautions.Kathmandu's doctor-to-patient ratio is 1:850, but in rural Nepal it is one doctor for every 15,000 people, and hospitals and medical staff there <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/at-the-covid-19-frontlines-in-rural-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">are already overstretched</a>.Close to 60% of all swabs collected nationwide are from Bagmati Province, with nearly half of them in Kathmandu Valley, says epidemiologist Lhamu Yangchen Sherpa. She adds: “There just aren’t enough tests and contact tracing is minimal, official total cases and fatalities are grossly underestimated.” <figure><img width="1497" height="746" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85a39c7e80680e067805jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="984" height="519" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85a69c7e80680e067806jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Hospitals in Kathmandu Valley with roof helipads have multiple daily rescue flights, but even these facilities are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/we-knew-the-tsunami-was-approaching/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">at breaking point</a> with patients being turned away. Understaffed and under-equipped hospitals in the districts do not stand a chance. Even where hospitals exist, many families avoid them for fear of being infected and take wrong medication from pharmacies.Case in point are recent deaths due to misdiagnosis across the country. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-shot-in-the-arm-for-vaccines-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Typhoid disease</a> simulates Covid-19 with similar symptoms, and the widespread Widal test is known to give false positives.“Covid patients are being prescribed antibiotics to fight typhoid, only to turn critically ill in a few days’ time,” says Buddha Basnyat of Patan Academy of Health Sciences. “This is the reason behind some of the latest Covid fatalities.” <figure><img width="1280" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85a89c7e80680e067807jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>As in India, Nepal is beginning to see a slight bending of the curve for new infections, but health experts expect the fatality rate to remain high for some more time.  There were 190 Covid deaths in the past 24 hours and 6,543 recoveries. Of the total 8,305 new cases on Thursday, Kathmandu Valley accounts for 3,232 infections. 7,814 people are undergoing treatment in hospitals with 1,748 in ICU and 492 in ventilator support. “After the relentless patient pressure of the past month, we have seen a decline in those requiring admissions,” says virologist at Teku hospital Sher Bahadur Pun. “The virus has now infected a majority of people in the cities, and this combined with the lockdown means we may be getting to the halfway mark of the second wave.” <h2>2. Vaccines</h2> A prolonged lockdown is not the answer. If it was, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-numbers-slightly-down-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reduction in the number of cases and the positivity rate</a> this week would have been steeper. Even while the government tries to increase oxygen supply to hospitals, the only long-term strategy is to vaccinate at least 70% of Nepal’s eligible population.Doctors report a marked difference between the recovery of people who are vaccinated against those who are not. Says virologist Pun at Teku Hospital: “Except for a few rare cases, all patients in critical condition and those dying are the ones who for one reason or another had not been vaccinated.”But Nepal has run out of its vaccine stock, leaving 1.4 million people still waiting for their second dose of AstraZeneca Covishield in a lurch, after India banned its export, and the COVAX Facility could not supply its remaining 1.8 million vaccines to Nepal because of the global supply bottleneck.  <figure><img width="1440" height="1080" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85ac9c7e80680e067808jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Nepal government and pressure groups in Nepal and the United States <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-needs-urgent-american-vaccine-support/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">have strongly urged the Biden administration</a> to immediately rush some of its AstraZeneca doses to Nepal.Meanwhile, the UK, the US and Canada have authorised vaccines for use in children and adolescents, sparking outrage in the global public health community for prioritising an age group that is rarely critically affected by Covid-19. The World Health Organisation’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged rich countries to instead donate doses to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/unicef-urges-g7-to-dispatch-vaccines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">COVAX Facility</a> for poorer states that have barely covered health workers and the most vulnerable groups. Speaking at the British Parliament last week, noted vaccinologist and the principal researcher of Oxford University’s AstraZeneca vaccine, Andrew Pollard, called the decision to inoculate children in wealthy nations ahead of high-risk groups in poorer countries “morally wrong.” Pollard has worked extensively in the region, leading research into the burden and transmission of typhoid in Nepal, Bangladesh and Malawi, and the impact of typhoid vaccine in these areas. He also runs surveillance for invasive bacterial diseases, and studies the impact of pneumococcal vaccines in children in Nepal.In Nepal, vaccination will grind to a halt this week after the current campaign to inoculate 300,000 people in the 18-59 age group with their second dose of the Chinese VeroCell ends.  <figure><img width="960" height="640" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85af9c7e80680e067809jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img width="960" height="640" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85b29c7e80680e06780ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="960" height="639" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85b49c7e80680e06780bjpeg.jpg" alt="">Although <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-is-a-priority-for-vaccine-shipments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali says</a> the government is in “final negotiations” for 2 million doses of Sinopharm VeroCell vaccines by June, there is no movement at the Ministry of Health. Ongoing talks to procure 8 million doses of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/vaccine-geo-politics-and-sputnik-v/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Sputnik V</a> have hit a production capacity snag in Russia. “We can implement lockdowns only for so long, the only exit strategy is vaccines. Science delivered, now our politicians must do the same,” says Buddha Basnyat, a physical at the Patan Academy of Health Sciences. “The Nepal government must procure vaccines using every diplomatic channel possible, and rich countries must realise that they are not safe until countries like Nepal are also vaccinated.” Activists have been trying to convince <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/leading-public-figures-call-on-uk-government-for-oxygen-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the US government and Europeans</a> that Nepal has a lot of experience in successful vaccination campaigns against polio, smallpox, measles. It has over 50,000 female community health volunteers (FCHVs) reaching children with vaccines every year.  <figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85b79c7e80680e06780cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img width="2048" height="943" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85ba9c7e80680e06780djpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1920" height="864" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85bd9c7e80680e06780ejpeg.jpg" alt="">Similarly, Nepal’s health system has amassed vast experience in maintaining the vaccine cold chain even in the remote mountains. It also has trained human resource overseeing DOTS (Directly Observed Therapy, Short-course) for tuberculosis management all over the country who can lend a hand in equitable distribution of vaccines in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/rural-nepal-fights-back-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rural Nepal</a>.Says epidemiologist Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa: “It’s not too late, we can still use existing resources like FCHVs to better mobilise vaccination, conduct contact tracing, dispel any remaining vaccine hesitancy, and use public health professionals in prevention.”

It’s an Emergency

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111144/636b84ec9c7e80680e0677c2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="658"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Nepal’s Covid-19 crisis has figured in a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday, where members heard USAID officials, and urged a more urgent response.Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said he was concerned that the situation in Nepal was even more serious, after India stopped the export of vaccines.Meanwhile the first US legislator of Nepali-origin Harry Bhandari from Maryland has started a signature campaign calling on President Joe Biden to rush urgent medical aid to Nepal.Responding to the queries from senators at the hearing, Jeremy Konyndyk of USAID admitted the situation in Nepal was serious, that the high positivity rate meant there was an urgent need for more testing.Last week, the group <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621001079983000&amp;usg=AFQjCNExp09ZvwY7OX2ArKmLNmcLJlnyLw">The Covid Alliance for Nepal</a> wrote to the US Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry to urge him to help secure the AstraZeneca vaccine from the US stockpile. Nearly 1.3 million people in Nepal who have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine are waiting for the second dose, amidst uncertainty after India banned its export.Meanwhile, US Indo-Pacific Command announced on Thursday that it is giving Nepal $2.85 million to acquire oxygen plants, cylinders and storage tanks, as well as PPE, isolation centre equipment and other gear. USAID also announced that it had given various agencies of the Nepal government nearly $51 million to fight the pandemic.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111144/636b84ef9c7e80680e0677c3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1176" height="1080">Also on Thursday, deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokhrel called US Ambassador Berry asking for urgent help with AstraZeneca vaccines. Pokhrel said Berry had assured him that he was also urging Washington about the need for vaccines, and that he would keep the Nepal government informed.In return Berry also requested Pokhrel, who heads the Covid-19 Control and Management Committee (CCMC) to restore two flights a week from Kathmandu to evacuate its nationals stuck in Nepal to return to the United States. All international and domestic flights in Nepal have been grounded till 31 May, and the lockdown in Kathmandu has been extended till 27 May.In a separate development, the European Union is also extending €2 million in humanitarian funding to Nepal that will be used to monitor home isolated cases through tele-medicine services and rapid referral to hospitals, national emergency medical teams deployment and international emergency medical teams mobilisation facilitation as well as procurement of oxygen equipment including oxygen concentrators, cylinders, home care kits, diagnostics including antigen test kits and PPE.Nepal has also activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, and Finland is the first member to offer more than 2 million surgical masks, 350,000 FFP2 masks, 52,500 pairs of vinyl gloves and 30,000 isolation gowns."We stand in full solidarity with Nepal in its fight against the pandemic and are quickly mobilising emergency support with initial €2 million funding, and we stand ready to provide further assistance,”  said EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič.

International help for Nepal picks up

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131120/636ced0a9c7e80680e09ad9fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="658"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Nepal’s Covid-19 crisis has figured in a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday, where members heard USAID officials, and urged a more urgent response.Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said he was concerned that the situation in Nepal was even more serious, after India stopped the export of vaccines.Meanwhile the first US legislator of Nepali-origin Harry Bhandari from Maryland has started a signature campaign calling on President Joe Biden to rush urgent medical aid to Nepal.Responding to the queries from senators at the hearing, Jeremy Konyndyk of USAID admitted the situation in Nepal was serious, that the high positivity rate meant there was an urgent need for more testing.Last week, the group <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621001079983000&amp;usg=AFQjCNExp09ZvwY7OX2ArKmLNmcLJlnyLw">The Covid Alliance for Nepal</a> wrote to the US Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry to urge him to help secure the AstraZeneca vaccine from the US stockpile. Nearly 1.3 million people in Nepal who have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine are waiting for the second dose, amidst uncertainty after India banned its export.Meanwhile, US Indo-Pacific Command announced on Thursday that it is giving Nepal $2.85 million to acquire oxygen plants, cylinders and storage tanks, as well as PPE, isolation centre equipment and other gear. USAID also announced that it had given various agencies of the Nepal government nearly $51 million to fight the pandemic.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131120/636ced0e9c7e80680e09ada0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1176" height="1080">Also on Thursday, deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokhrel called US Ambassador Berry asking for urgent help with AstraZeneca vaccines. Pokhrel said Berry had assured him that he was also urging Washington about the need for vaccines, and that he would keep the Nepal government informed.In return Berry also requested Pokhrel, who heads the Covid-19 Control and Management Committee (CCMC) to restore two flights a week from Kathmandu to evacuate its nationals stuck in Nepal to return to the United States. All international and domestic flights in Nepal have been grounded till 31 May, and the lockdown in Kathmandu has been extended till 27 May.In a separate development, the European Union is also extending €2 million in humanitarian funding to Nepal that will be used to monitor home isolated cases through tele-medicine services and rapid referral to hospitals, national emergency medical teams deployment and international emergency medical teams mobilisation facilitation as well as procurement of oxygen equipment including oxygen concentrators, cylinders, home care kits, diagnostics including antigen test kits and PPE.Nepal has also activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, and Finland is the first member to offer more than 2 million surgical masks, 350,000 FFP2 masks, 52,500 pairs of vinyl gloves and 30,000 isolation gowns."We stand in full solidarity with Nepal in its fight against the pandemic and are quickly mobilising emergency support with initial €2 million funding, and we stand ready to provide further assistance,”  said EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič.

Nepal’s only international aviation gateway, at Kathmandu airport, will cut night-time operation hours to allow construction of taxiways, and airlines have been told to curtail flights. This is expected to lead to more than normal chaos during the height of peak autumn and spring tourist seasons at an airport that is congested even at the best of times. The airport will close from 10PM to 8AM from 8 November-31 March 2025. The taxiways will now connect to the thresholds at both ends of the runway, making the airport more efficient in handling higher frequencies of landings and takeoffs. The parallel taxiway extension will allow international flights to land every 4 minutes instead of the current every 7 minutes. At present planes have to wait to land until a plane taking off backtracks along the runway.&nbsp; Kathmandu is Nepal’s only airport with international operations, and it has only one runway that is only one way in from the south over the mountains. With the taxiway improvement, the airport will be able to handle 42 aircraft landings and takeoffs per hour — double the current capacity.&nbsp; The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has been trying to entice international airlines to also start flying to and from the other two international airports at Pokhara and Bhairawa (Lumbini) by slashing landing and handling charges. But so far only Nepal Airlines operates a weekly flight to Bhairawa from Kuala Lumpur.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32" data-rendition-name="original" width="2356" height="1134" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport expansion"> <figcaption>Kathmandu Airport Expansion plan with extension of taxiways to the thresholds of runways 02 and 20 that will limit airport operations from 8 November 2024 - 31 March 2025. Areas in blue are existing structures, including the international terminal which in future will be the domestic airport, and the new international terminal near the north end of the runway,</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1353" height="1328" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport NT"> </figure>  CAAN has reportedly told international airlines to cut their flight frequency to Kathmandu citing the shorter operation hours and has told budget airlines to shift some of their flights to Pokhara or Bhairawa, or face cuts. Many airlines currently operate regular flights to and from Kathmandu between 10PM and 8AM: Air Arabia to Sharjah, Fly Dubai to Dubai, Jazeera Airways to Kuwait, Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, Singapore Airlines, several Nepal Airlines flights, and one of four daily flights by Qatar Airways to Doha. Jazeera Airways, FlyDubai, and Thai AirAsia have applied and got permission from CAAN to begin regular flights to Bhairawa’s Gautam Buddha International Airport. Starting 9 November, FlyDubai will start making a stopover in Bhairawa before flying on to Kathmandu. Immigration, customs and security are all fully functional in Bhairawa. In Kathmandu, the next phase of the airport upgrade includes converting the current international terminal for domestic operations, the construction of a new international terminal where the domestic departure area is now, as well as moving the hangars and the Nepal Army Air Wing to the eastern side of the runway. The apron area will also double its parking space for widebody jets. This is part of a Airport Capacity Enhancement Project that was initially funded through a $80 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the entire masterplan is expected to cost $800 million. This project is the latest upgrade to Nepal’s only international airport since it saw its first flight in 1949. The current international and domestic terminals are too small to handle the current annual traffic volume of 8.5 million passengers a year that is growing at 20% a year.

Kathmandu airport to cut flight hours

As Kathmandu becomes more congested and polluted, and with remote online work becoming the norm, many professional Nepalis are planning to retire in Pokhara, or move there.&nbsp; With its stunning mountain panorama, balmy winters and proximity to a profusion of wilderness areas, builders are responding to this demand with new townhouses, housing development and apartments. One such block of flats is the 10-storey <a href="https://sungavaapartment.com/">Sungava Apartment</a> located at Phulbari above the Seti River, near the point where it flows into and under Pokhara. The imposing structure near Manipal Hospital is almost complete, and on a recent visit the site was strewn with huge boulders unearthed while digging the foundation.&nbsp; The Seti brought down these boulders during a gigantic flood that geologists estimate happened 800 years ago when a chunk of Annapurna IV broke off and ploughed into the glacier below. Today, Sungava (means ‘orchid’) sits safely on a high terrace, 100m above the blue-green Seti and commands a view of Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South, Machapuchre, Annapurna III and IV.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2016" height="1512" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  The soil here is conglomerate that has solidified like concrete, and the boulders were extracted by heavy earthmovers. It is intriguing to think that these metamorphic rocks as big as cars, rounded by glacial grinding, were once a part of a much higher Annapurna IV. Even for those with little interest in geology, Sungava is an ideal place to contemplate the tectonic forces that pushed these peaks into the sky to be sculpted into delicate shapes by wind, snow, earthquake and avalanche over millions of years. The view of the Himalayan panorama from Sungava’s many balconies are breathtaking when not obscured by clouds, or the haze that drifts in from across the southern border. On most days, just watching the towering pyramid of Machapuchre (Tamu name: कतासुँ क्लिको) play hide and seek with the clouds is mesmerising. There are rocks aplenty at Phulbari, and it is probably the flowers that grew along the flat terraces e that gave the place its flowery name. The boulders will hopefully be turned into a rock garden while landscaping. An nearby restaurant complex is making the best use of the stones in its design, using flat rocks as outdoor benches and tables. Sungava was designed by the husband-wife architect team of Deepak Sherchan and Jyoti Joshi of <a href="https://thedarkmermaidamarbshrestha.blogspot.com/2013/12/creative-builders-collaborative-cbc.html">Creative Builders Collaborative (CBC)</a>, which also built Heritage Plaza, Indreni Apartment and numerous other projects in Nepal. Sadbhavana retains CBC’s trademark Newari-style masonry and here it borrows from the orange brickwork of the old town of Pokhara, integrating it with modern design elements. A few of those heritage houses are still standing in Ganesh Tole and Ram Krishna Tole in Pokhara’s old quarter.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1362" height="595" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  About 400m from the apartment past a bend on the river, and down below three tiers of terraces in the canyon is a suspension bridge. Below it, the Seti is still swollen with post-monsoon flow as it tumbles away in a hurry to head down south.&nbsp; Back at the apartment, it is quiet, far away from the hubbub of Lakeside a 15 minute drive away, and in the lap of greenery. There are 52 units at Sungava and it already has a close-knit prospective community of professionals, including doctors, publishers, engineers, and businesspeople from the renewable energy and IT sectors.&nbsp; Some residents say they opted for a second home in Pokhara to make it a ‘base camp’ to explore the Annapurnas with its many hiking trails made newly accessible with new roads. With the NRN citizenship law, overseas Nepalis can now also buy the flats. &nbsp; The floor plans include options for north and south-facing 3-bedroom apartments with verandas, and the facility has underground parking has EV charging, heated pool, sauna and gym. There are still some unsold apartments with panoramic views of the mountains and one can imagine oneself at the kitchen with its huge window, humming a ditty while preparing breakfast: “खाना पकाउँ हिमाल हेरेर...”

High living below the Himalaya

When the United Nations held its Summit of the Future at its headquarters in New York in September, many world leaders, including Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Oli, highlighted the effect of climate breakdown in increasing the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. What did not get as much attention was the long term impact of the climate crisis on food production. In fact, heat stress, weather extremes and the consequences on rain-fed agriculture is already being felt worldwide, undermining the chances of the <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/">UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</a> being met by 2030.&nbsp; The SDG’s 17 targets commit countries like Nepal to reduce poverty and inequality, end malnutrition, protect the natural environment, and ensure that citizens all enjoy health, justice and prosperity without leaving anyone behind.&nbsp; However, besides the impact of climate breakdown on agricultural production, in Nepal the area under cultivation is impacted by urban expansion, falling productivity and the need for expensive inputs like fertiliser and pesticides.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62" data-rendition-name="original" width="999" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Kathmandu's urban sprawl is eating into its fertile cultivable lands. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  Now, a new study led by Nepali researcher Prajal Pradhan at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands looks at how urban agriculture may offer a solution to falling food production and meeting SDG targets. The researchers evaluated 1,450 publications exploring the contributions of urban agriculture with both positive and negative effects, and published their findings in the journal Cells Report Sustainability. Urban agriculture can help achieve 17 SDGs, positively influencing 81 targets. However, it could also undermine 51 goals.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-vanishing-land">The vanishing land</a>, Taylor Mason “Urban agriculture offers immense potential for sustainable development, but realising this potential depends crucially on adopting practices that minimise its adverse effects while maximising its benefits,” Pradhan explains. Urban agriculture can substantially enhance urban food security, provide employment to the urban poor, serve as ground water recharge in built-up areas, and preserve open spaces that can serve as safe havens during disasters like earthquakes. However, it also presents problems like the potential health risks from contamination and the need for expensive inputs. &nbsp; “Urban agriculture plays a definitive role in advancing the SDGs, but achieving this requires tailored, context-specific solutions that address the unique challenges of different regions,” says Yuanchao Hu of Wuhan University in China and who is a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “But it needs equitable access and rigorous management of environmental risks.”&nbsp; Rapid urbanisation is eating into Nepal’s most fertile agricultural land, which means farming in remaining open spaces inside cities can be a viable alternative, especially as food prices rise.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>A vegetable patch in between new houses in Thimi. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  “The conversion of Nepal’s most fertile land into cities is a severe problem,” Pradhan told Nepali Times. “Crop cultivation, horticulture, agroforestry, beekeeping, livestock rearing, or aquaculture can all be farming activities within and around cities.”&nbsp; The study makes recommendations for sustainable practices that build on the positive aspects of urban agriculture while mitigating the downsides, thereby promoting more resilient cities in future. Research shows that urban agriculture has been helping many countries attain SDG targets by enhancing food security and biodiversity while helping education and preservation of open spaces.&nbsp; Indeed, many farmers from the hinterland who have settled in Kathmandu Valley or other urban areas of the country have been practicing urban agriculture, leasing neighbourhood patches or cultivating roof gardens both out of necessity because of inflation and falling income to grow their own food, and also as a fulfilling hobby. Saurav Dhakal, a sustainability advocate with Story Cycle and now research fellow at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, says there are socio-economic and environmental benefits of urban agriculture. “It provides benefits to all urban dwellers, regardless of their income status,” says Dhakal, “families get fresh food, and there are many other benefits like water retention, heat regulation and biodiversity. These are all public goods, so special government incentives may be needed.” It is not unusual to see vegetable patches and even paddy fields within inner city Kathmandu where an older generation of farmers are using available fertile land and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/rooftop-gardens-kathmandu,1415">roof gardens to produce fresh, nutritious food </a>to reduce their dependence on food items that have to be bought after being trucked in from large distances.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>An older generation of farmers are using any available fertile land to continue farming but it is getting more and more difficult. Photo: TAYLOR MASON </figcaption> </figure>  Nepal’s urban population grew rapidly from only 3.6% in 1991 to 25% today. There is large outmigration from the mountains to peri-urban areas of the Tarai, to Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara, with many young men then moving abroad for work. Kathmandu Valley’s population has swelled to nearly 3 million, and is growing at 6.5% a year. Dilip Shrestha, 71, used to work for Nepal Food Corporation, so he knew firsthand about inflation, shortages and vegetables with pesticide residue. So, when he designed his new house in Kathmandu, he built a spacious roof where he grows cucumber, ginger, garlic, coriander, onions, tomatoes, chili, beans, okra, pumpkin and lettuce. His family eats healthier, and he has reduced dependence on the market.&nbsp; The co-author of the Cell Reports Sustainability journal article, Daya Raj Subedi who is a PhD candidate at Beijing Forestry University, says urban agriculture also promotes inclusion and psycho-social wellbeing.&nbsp; He says, “A crucial finding of the study is the identification of opportunities and challenges associated with urban agriculture, it can promote sustainable transformation of society.” In Banepa, 55-year-old Bijaya Manandhar in her lifetime has watched the fertile farms of her neighbourhood that used to supply vegetables to Kathmandu, now completely built up with no open space left. The pandemic lockdown prompted her to turn to the family’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world">ancestral livelihood by growing food</a> not on terrace farms, but on the roof terrace. Manandhar is now a part of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world%5C%5C">कौसी खेती र करेसाबारी क्रान्ती</a> (Rooftop Farming and Garden Revolution) which has an online membership of 52,000, and awards annual prizes to women who excel in urban agriculture.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="736" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Rooftop farming is gaining popularity as a form of urban agriculture. </figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> </figure>  Pradhan says the challenge now is to upscale such examples of successful urban agricultural practices so they support Neal’s efforts to meet SDG targets. He adds, “Crop cultivation around cities can be protected by land use plans and regulations. Promoting community-based agriculture, including rooftop gardens, requires community engagement and public-private partnerships across the food value chain.”&nbsp; Such support would accelerate the popularity of existing rooftop farming and community gardens in Kathmandu Valley, or kitchen garden initiatives in Pokhara, and building on traditional farming practices that are preserved and integrated into urban settings like in Bhaktapur and Banepa. In Lalitpur, the Women Entrepreneurship Facilitation Center promotes urban farming enhancing both sustainability and empowerment.&nbsp; Another co-author of the report, Yuanchao Hu from China says followup research of the team will aim to identify good practices in local urban agriculture practices. He adds, “There are examples of urban agriculture that optimise sustainability, ensuring that it remains a viable solution for cities globally while countries try to meet SDG targets.” Prajal Pradhan, Daya Raj Subedi, Kshitij Dahal, Yuanchao Hu, Prakriti Gurung, Sijal Pokharel, Sagar Kafle, Biplav Khatri, Sudeeksha Basyal, Monika Gurung, and Aruna Joshi. Urban Agriculture matters for sustainable development. Cell Reports Sustainability, 1:100217, 2024. [DOI: 10.1016/j.crsus.2024.100217] Prajal Pradhan (<a href="mailto:p.pradhan@rug.nl">p.pradhan@rug.nl</a>) This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="SDG logo"> </figure>

Back to the land in the cities

The 700-year-old Lakshmi Narasingha temple in Bhaktapur houses a rare half-lion and half-human incarnation of Lord Vishnu carrying the Goddess Lakshmi. The temple was destroyed in the 1934 mega earthquake that killed 10,000 people and destroyed many monuments in Kathmandu Valley. It was rebuilt by a German project in the 1980s, but as a single-storey structure instead of its original two-tier pagoda design.&nbsp; With new findings from in-depth research, Bhaktapur municipality began re-restoring the temple in 2021, preserving its original architecture.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “Our temples and heritage sites hold deep meaning. It is disheartening to witness how often they lose their original elements, whether by design or accident,” explains Kumar Chawal of the Consumer Committee of Bhaktapur. “There is a need to preserve our architecture and protect its historical value for future generations. Otherwise, we risk losing a vital part of our identity.” The Laksmi Narsingha restoration is similar to the Bhai Dega temple in Patan Darbar Square which also collapsed in 1934, but was rebuilt with a Moghul-style dome by the Rana government at the time. Only two months before the 2015 earthquake, heritage conservationists had started to rebuild Bhai Dega as the original three-tier based on early photographs. But priorities shifted when four other temples in the square were brought down by the 7.8M earthquake on 25 April 2015.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  This showed how damage to monuments in Kathmandu Valley spanned from one earthquake to the next. Bhai Dega restoration remains half-complete to this day because money for its restoration ran out.&nbsp; Whereas Bhai Dega restoration was done by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust with grants from western embassies and international foundations, in Bhaktapur it is the municipality itself that allocated the Rs30.7 million needed to restore the Lakshmi Narasingha temple. The expected date of completion is early 2025. The municipality and local communities are focusing on two main aspects: preserving the past and promoting localisation. The restoration team has designed a blueprint for the temple by using historical photographs and insights from older generations.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="560" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “At first, the Lakshmi Narasingha temple had only one entrance, but during the demolition process, we uncovered the foundations of four doors. Now, we are restoring all of them. This is an example of how our ancient structures have changed over time, often without our knowledge,” says Chawal. “Constructing temples is not like building houses. They carry historical and spiritual values, which is why they hold a special place in our hearts,” he adds. By replicating ancient design elements and rebuilding the temple as accurately as possible to its original form, the team has stayed true to Bhaktapur’s soul. But the restoration also revived ancient techniques that were in danger of being forgotten, generating employment for woodcarvers, masons, and contractors. The community of Bhaktapur’s Gahiti neighbourhood near the famous Nyatapola Temple has also set aside specific days for locals to volunteer in the reconstruction work. This has encouraged young people to take pride in ownership of their heritage. Families have also supported the effort by donating funds for bells, the temple pinnacle, and other structural features to the temple.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “I feel at peace knowing I have contributed my sweat to restoring this temple,” said one volunteer. “It is our duty to preserve our temples and heritage. The Nyatapola area will look magical once this temple is completed.” Community mobilisation is a long-standing tradition in Bhaktapur. In the past, locals have actively participated in the restoration of other temples in the city, such as Bhairav and Nyatapola fostering a strong sense of ownership. This collective engagement has not only been crucial in preserving the city's historical monuments but also in strengthening the bond between local communities and their heritage, says officials at the municipality. While securing funding is essential, and the municipality showed it values heritage conservation, the Lakshmi Narasingha restoration is proof that active involvement and sense of responsibility of the local community is as important, if not more. Local involvement also means that the monuments will be cared for into the future, When locals take ownership of these efforts, the restored monuments are not only protected in the present but are also cared for in the future.