In Nepal, community seed banks have a long and rich history. Supported in particular by a number of non-government organizations and more recently, also by government agencies, they can be found across the country from the lowland terai to the high hill areas and from east to west. The latest count puts the number of active community seed banks at 115. These proceedings present the contributions of community seed banks to the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity. The various contributions discuss conceptual, practical and policy issues concerning the establishment and management of community seed banks. Lessons learned from the experiences in Nepal will be useful for community seed banks globally.
The last decade has witnessed rapid progress in energy cooperation between the countries of the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) sub-region. Cooperation has been bilateral, with each of the countries entering into separate energy development and trade agreement with India, broadly similar to the water sector where national governments engage bilaterally on transboundary cooperation and dispute resolution. A more recent wave of electrical grid interconnections and hydro-energy cooperation has emerged with governments increasingly shifting from bilateral to multilateral energy-sharing agreements. This trend holds considerable potential for regional transboundary water governance. Based on documentary and media analysis along with interviews of key BBIN policy-makers, we identify and examine in this paper four factors for future progress: 1) technical cooperation can be extended to information-sharing for policies and institutions to regulate and manage water resources; 2) India must seize the opportunities and benefits of enhanced regional leadership in the region; 3) simultaneous informal discussion and diplomatic negotiation of water, energy and their nexus can provide BBIN countries the opportunity to highlight potential gains of cooperation and interstate interdependencies; and 4) regional cooperation can give a strong impetus to nations for advancing structural reforms, building institutions and capacity, developing a shared knowledge base, bridging infrastructural gaps, attracting private sector participation, and addressing poverty alleviation goals including job creation.
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) being the most important staple crop of Nepal its production and productivity is significantly reduced by old-aged seedling transplantation and imbalanced nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium application. A field experiment was conducted at Sundarbazar, Lamjung to evaluate the performance of 38 days old US-312 hybrid rice seedling under fully rain-fed condition with six precision nutrient management practices [Nutrient Expert® -Rice (NE) recommendation, Farmers Fertilizer Practices (FFP); Government Recommendation (GR); Leaf Color Chart (LCC) N and FFP (P & K); NE (N) and FFP (P & K); and LCC (N) and NE (P & K) replicated four times in RCBD design during July to December, 2017. The statistical results showed that there was a significant difference between the treatments in terms of plant height( 105.38cm),leaf area index(4.26), crop growth rate (3.55),effective tillers m-2(374.25), tiller panicle conversion index (94.93%), panicle length (25.31cm), panicle weight (4.25g), fertility (82.35%), yield at 14% moisture (5.79t/ha), straw yield (7.96t/ha), net and gross revenues (Rs122503.1 and Rs272337/ha), B:C ratio (1.81), partial factor productivity(0.958) and total factor productivity (0.091).The grain yield increased by 37.62% in NE-Rice recommendation over the FFP, more than the NE estimated attainable yields (5.5t/ha) that signified further validation of Nutrient Expert –Rice Model under the mid-hill agro-ecological region of central Nepal.Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 6(3): 232-237
Community seed bank (CSB) is one of the approaches successfully applied in Nepal and globally for conservation and use of local crop diversity for food and agriculture. However, there are only a few success examples of CSBs in high mountain areas of Nepal, particularly focusing on traditional underutilized crops. This chapter aims to present the modality and experiences of implementing community seed banks in mountain districts, namely, Humla, Jumla, Lamjung and Dolakha, by the UNEP GEF Local Crop Project (LCP) jointly implemented by Bioversity International, NAGRC, DoA and LI-BIRD. The project was implemented in 2014 in Nepal for providing diversity rich solutions and mainstreaming the conservation and use of local agricultural biodiversity in the mountain agricultural production landscapes. The LCP adopted Diversity Field School (DFS) approach to sensitize and mobilize communities about the importance of local crop genetic resources, paving way in realizing the need of CSB and its institutionalization. DFS approach has been found effective to identify and mobilize custodians of agrobiodiversity, promote good practices such as participatory variety selection, grass-roots breeding, food fairs and promote farmer- to-farmer learning and sharing as a part of local capacity building processes. DFS approach has empowered women farmers to take leadership roles in managing community seed banks. The project engaged local governments (Palikas) from the beginning to make them realize the vital need of CSBs, strengthen local seed systems as a mechanism to increase access to quality seeds of traditional and underutilized crop species. It has resulted a positive outcome to develop ownership on institutionalizing CSB in local agriculture development plans and providing significant amount of financial resources and material support to establish and sustain CSBs in LCP sites. In remote high mountain areas, where seed business opportunity is limited; engagement of and ownership of local government is crucial to sustain CSBs.
Not uploaded.Key words: TORCH infection; Serum; IgM; ELISADOI: 10.3126/jnhrc.v5i2.2467Journal of Nepal Health Research Council (JNHRC) Vol. 5, No.2, October 2007 21-25
Background: The knowledge of distribution and pattern of liver disease in a tertiary care center provides an overview of disease pattern in a community. It also helps in planning and prioritizing strategies to treat the diseases and reduce their burden in the community. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted among patients admitted to the Liver unit, Bir Hospital from April 13, 2008 to October 16, 2008. Demographic profile and disease pattern was studied. Descriptive analysis was used to calculate frequencies and percentage and their relations. Results: Male to female ratio was 2.3:1. The mean age was 41.9 (SD 14.8). Median hospital stay was 8.0 days (Q25-75 6.0-12.0). The top three diseases were alcoholic liver disease 50 (38.5%), viral hepatitis 44 (33.8%), and liver abscess 11 (8.5%). Fifty (38.5%) patients had acute, 74 (56.9%) had chronic liver disease and 6 (4.6%) were malignancy. The main cause of acute disease were infections 41 (82.0%) especially Hepatitis E Virus (HEV). HEV was associated with acute liver failure and pregnancy which was 4 (18.2%) and 2 (12.5%) respectively. Chronic diseases were caused by alcohol 45 (60.8%) followed by infection of hepatitis B and C viruses 11 (14.8%). Cirrhosis was diagnosed in 37 (28.5%) with alcohol as the main cause. Conclusions: Majority had chronic liver disease (CLD), mostly due to alcohol, HBV and HCV. Alcohol was the leading cause of cirrhosis. Prevalence of Hepatitis E was found to be high in acute illness. Therefore, an initiative needs to be taken to decrease alcohol consumption along with HEV, HBV and HCV transmission through community health program. Key words: Alcohol, cirrhosis, hepatitis, liver disease DOI: 10.3126/jnhrc.v7i1.2273 Journal of Nepal Health Research Council Vol. 7, No. 1, 2009 April 14-18
BACKGROUND: There is evidence for benefits of psychological treatments in low-resource countries, yet few government health systems include psychological services. AIM: Evaluating the clinical value of adding psychological treatments, delivered by community-based counselors, to primary care-based mental health services for depression and alcohol use disorder (AUD), as recommended by the mental health Gap Action Progamme (mhGAP). METHOD: Two pragmatic randomized controlled trials, separately for depression and AUD. Participants were randomly allocated (1:1) to mental health care delivered by mhGAP-trained primary care workers (psychoeducation and psychotropic medicines when indicated), or the same services plus individual psychological treatments (Healthy Activity Program for depression and Counselling for Alcohol Problems). Primary outcomes were symptom severity 12 months post-enrolment, using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for depression, the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test for AUD, and functional impairment using the World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS). RESULTS: Participants with depression in the intervention arm (n=60) had greater reduction in PHQ-9 and WHODAS scores compared to participants in the control arm (n=60) (PHQ-9: M=−5.90, 95%CI −7.55 to −4.25, β=−3.68, 95%CI −5.68 to −1.67, p<0.001; Cohen's d = .66; WHODAS: M=−12.21, 95%CI −19.58 to −4.84, β=−10.74, 95%CI −19.96 to −1.53, p=0.022; Cohen's d = .42). For the AUD trial, no significant effect was found when comparing control (n=80) and intervention participants (n=82). CONCLUSION: Adding a psychological treatment delivered by community-based counsellors increases treatment effects for depression compared to only mhGAP-based services by primary health workers 12 months post-treatment. Trial registration: ISRCTN72875710 (protocol available: https://www.isrctn.com/)
The role of hydropower in the renewable energy mix for Africa's green development is widely recognised and underpinned by respective government and development partner funded initiatives. However, the growing demand for energy must be balanced with considerations for resource protection and benefit sharing of water resource developments with vulnerable human communities. An international conference on water stewardship for sustainable hydropower brought together key stakeholders in Nairobi, Kenya. This paper aims to synthesise the key messages of experts who attended the conference, presents the emerging body of good practice policies, plans and action in developing sustainable hydropower in Sub-Saharan Africa, and provides recommendations for the way forward. Outcomes of the conference include considerations, planning for sustainable resource development, resource protection considerations, sharing of resource development benefits, and putting the promise into practice. This discussion describes the nature of our planning and management mistakes in the past, presents good practice options and how to implement sustainable hydropower in the future.
The Constitution of Nepal 2015 enshrines everyone's right of access to clean water for drinking and the right to food. The common operationalization of the right to water for drinking is providing access to infrastructure that brings water for drinking and other basic domestic uses near and at homesteads. Challenges to achieving this goal in rural areas include: low functionality of water systems; expansion of informal self supply for multiple uses; widespread de facto productive uses of water systems designed for domestic uses; growing competition for finite water resources; and male elite capture in polycentric decision-making. This paper traces how the Nepali government and nongovernmental organizations in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), irrigation and other sectors have joined forces since the early 2000s to address these challenges by innovating community-led multiple use water services (MUS). The present literature review of these processes complemented by field research supported by the Water for Women Fund focuses on women in vulnerable households. Overcoming sectoral silos, these organizations support what is often seen as the sole responsibility of the WASH sector: targeting infrastructure development to bring sufficient water near and at homesteads of those left behind. Women's priorities for using this water are respected and supported, which often includes productive uses, also at basic volumes. In line with decentralized federalism, inclusive community-led MUS planning processes build on vulnerable households' self supply, commonly for multiple uses, and follow their priorities for local incremental infrastructure improvements. Further, community-led MUS builds on community-based arrangements for 'sharing in' and 'sharing out' the finite water resources in and under communities' social territories. This realizes the constitutional right to food in line with the Nepal Water Resources Act, 1992, which prioritizes core minimum volumes of water for everyone's domestic uses and many households' irrigation. Evidence shows how the alleviation of domestic chores, women's stronger control over food production for nutrition and income, and more sustainable infrastructure mutually reinforce each other in virtuous circles out of gendered poverty. However, the main challenge remains the inclusion of women and vulnerable households in participatory processes.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a progressive disease with multifactorial etiology. The first-line therapy includes monotherapy (with metformin), which often fails to provide effective glycemic control, necessitating the addition of add-on therapy. In this regard, multiple single-dose agents formulated as a single-dose form called fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) have been evaluated for their safety, efficacy, and tolerability. The primary objective of this review is to develop practice-based expert group opinion on the current status and the causes of concern regarding the irrational use of FDCs, in Indian settings. After due discussions, the expert group analyzed the results from several clinical evidence in which various fixed combinations were used in T2DM management. The panel opined that FDCs (double or triple) improve patient adherence, reduce cost, and provide effective glycemic control and, thereby, play an important role in the management of T2DM. The expert group strongly recommended that the irrational metformin FDC's, banned by Indian government, should be stopped and could be achieved through active participation from the government, regulatory bodies, and health ministry, and through continuous education of primary care physicians and pharmacists. In T2DM management, FDCs play a crucial role in achieving glycemic targets effectively. However, understanding the difference between rational and irrational FDC combinations is necessary from the safety, efficacy, and tolerability perspective. In this regard, primary care physicians will have to use a multistep approach so that they can take informed decisions.
