News

Immediate Past Chairman of BNMT Board of Trustees, Dr. Ian A. Baker, Awarded M.B.E.

On 29th December, 2007, it was announced that H.M. the Queen had appointed the immediate past Chairman of BNMT’s Board of Trustees, Dr. Ian Baker, as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE). This honour is a fitting tribute to Ian’s leadership and dedication to BNMT. The Board and Staff of BNMT extend their congratulations to Ian for this well deserved honour.

40th Anniversary Celebrations, 27th November, 2007, Kathmandu.

The Honourable Minister for Health, Mr. Giriraj Mani Pokhrel, graced the occasion as the chief guest.  On behalf of the Government of Nepal he said “I should like to urge and welcome BNMT to work in other additional areas and I make a commitment from this very platform that the Government will provide the necessary support in making it possible.”  He also expressed the Government's commitment to fulfil the health rights of its citizens.

The Ambassador of the United Kingdom, His Excellency Dr. Andrew Hall congratulated BNMT on its 40th anniversary. His Excellency added that “in recent times we have another focus, which is to help the people of Nepal to restore peace.  As old friends we want to help Nepal put years of long conflict firmly behind it and return to peace and stability, building a more democratic and prosperous future for the people of Nepal and the foundation for that is of course a healthy and educated population.”
Ms. Munni Pariyar, community member said “I was totally unaware of health rights; right to quality health services, maternal and child health, until I received training though the BNMT programme.  Because of the training, I am now aware and determined to make changes in my community. There has been a visible change in my community because of the BNMT programme and we seek continued support from BNMT and the Government of Nepal for the empowerment of the Dalit community.”
The BNMT Trust Chair, Mr. Jeffrey Mecaskey, thanked all the stakeholders for supporting BNMT in its endeavours.  He said “we believe that we have done a satisfactory job over the past 40 years. But there is a lot more to be done, so let's join our hands and work in collaboration and co-ordination to reach out to the marginalised communities of Nepal with the Rights Based Approach to the health programme."

Read a full account of the celebrations (.doc format)

Dr. Gillian Holdsworth completes trek

Dr. Gillian Holdsworth, Trustee of BNMT, was congratulated by a standing ovation for the successful completion of her Trans-Nepal Trek. 

The trek was one of the events of BNMT’s 40th anniversary celebration programme and drew the attention of many of the national and international media and trek enthusiasts, providing increased recognition for BNMT’s work in rural Nepal. 

The trek also helped raise funds for BNMT.

SUMMERTIME, WHEN THE LIVING IS NOT EASY

Ah, the long hot days. For those of us living in Europe and North America, it’s the thought of long, hot, lazy days makes one thinks of summer holidays.

Lazy, however, is the last thing on the mind of farmers living in the hills of rural Nepal. For them, long hot days mean working in the fields when the monsoon provides life-giving waters and focusing on securing their annual food supply, planning, tending and harvesting rice, maize and millet. It is during this time, when Nepali farmers each day “eat a kilo (of rice) to harvest 40.”

As has been reported in the media, Nepal finished a difficult year on a positive note. After 15 months of direct rule, the King relinquished power to the political parties, and a fragile peace has been crafted with the Maoists, who have now joined the government. This is good news indeed, though optimism is tempered by caution as there are many operational and political hurdles to overcome before Nepal can safely be called a zone of peace again.

Many of the consequences of Nepal’s ten years of civil unrest are apparent in the frayed functioning of non governmental as well as governmental organizations, included those charged with health and social services. Government control was limited to cities and district centres in recent years, and Maoist efforts at establishing parallel systems was limited at best. At least 12,000 or 3 people per day died at the hands of their fellow Nepalis; more than 100,000 people are thought to be internally displaced. And incalculable strains have been placed on Nepal’s already vulnerable population groups—women, children and the socially excluded—as their rights, their health, food security and economic wellbeing were routinely trammelled by either side of the protracted struggle.

At BNMT we think about gender a lot—both in the work we do and in the ways we do it. As Nepal take stock and considers social reconstruction, an additional collateral damage has become apparent: missing men. During the course of Nepal’s civil insurrection hundreds of thousands of Nepalis—mostly men—left the country to try their luck abroad. Nepal of course has a long history of economic migration, and associated remittances. But as I saw, walking in the hills of Eastern Nepal a year ago, the young men one used to see in towns or in villages have gone simply missing.

Bringing this back to the long hot days of summer, the outward migration of young men from rural Nepal affects how the work necessary for food security does or does not get done over these monsoon months. It’s a fact that reduced food security makes vulnerable people even more liable to slip into what Noble laureate Amartya Sen has referred to as Ultra Poverty.

At BNMT, we will continue to endeavour to uphold the health rights and health of poor and marginalised people in Easter Nepal. We join many others in Nepal in welcoming the prospects of peace. We are also clear that we must redouble our efforts if the people of Nepal are going to have the means to improve their own health.