Suchergebnisse

Nepal has been practicing the federal system in health since the promulgation of the constitution in 2015. The new three-tier system of one federal, seven provincial and 753 local governments have set up ministries, departments, and health units at each level. Less than four years into this system, the country faced the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic created both opportunities and challenges for the federal health system. This study aims to identify those factors from the viewpoint of implementers of the health system. After an extensive literature review, exploratory qualitative research was carried out with twenty public health workers and elected representatives from all the tiers of government, including the federal ministry and governments of Lumbini Province. The data was analyzed using the R package for Qualitative Data Analysis (RQDA). Thematic analysis was performed using the World Health Organization's six building blocks of the health system as an analytical framework. The participants highlighted many opportunities after federalization in Nepal. The presence of government closer to people helped to make policies and plans as per local needs. Decentralized power to make decisions at the local level made human and financial resources readily available to local governments leading to better service delivery at the time of need. In contrast, the challenges were difficulty transiting into the new system of governance, poor coordination among the different government tiers, and the lack of local expertise to manage and lead the health system during severe constraints posed by the global pandemic of an unprecedented nature. The study showed that the federalization in Nepal has met the goals of devolution of the power structure and better health system management. However, there are specific areas of improvement to ensure a more functional health system.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating economic impact globally and Nepal is no exception. Tourism and migration abroad to work— two of the important sectors that have significantly contributed to the Nepali economy — have suffered tremendously in the face of lockdown and other restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, this paper aims to understand how COVID-19 impacted Nepalis while focusing on Nepal's tourism and migration sector. The paper is based on the review of secondary resources, including newspaper articles available in the public sphere. Data in this paper comes from the period prior to February 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation of Nepalis who were recovering from social and economic destruction caused by the global earthquake of 2015. The resulting lockdowns, the closing of land ports and airports, and the limitation of people's mobility have significantly affected Nepal's tourism sector. In addition, thousands of Nepali migrants lost their jobs and incomes in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations, Malaysia, India, and other destination countries as the pandemic struck the global economy. However, Nepali people appear to remain resilient in the face of yet another disaster.