PROJECT BRIEF
The Urban Health Project aims to develop the Urban Health Strategy (UHS) in Nepal that ensures the delivery of the quality essential health care services to the urban population, particularly to the urban poor, women, children, and marginalised groups.
Project objectives:
- To engage with Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP)/Primary Health Care Revitalisation Division (PHCRD), Minstry of Urban Development (MoUD), Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD), external development partners and beneficiaries in developing the UHS to effectively deliver EHCS in urban areas in Nepal;
- To facilitate the process of developing the UHS;
- To document the overall process of the UHS development; and
- To facilitate in the scaling-up of the UHS
HERD’s involvement in urban health in Nepal
Manohara Community Health Clinic: With an aim to increase equity and access of Essential Health Care Services (EHCS) to the urban poor, slum dwellers, seasonal migrants, daily wages workers, socially excluded and marginalised groups through community participation and development approach, HERD established Manohara Community Health Centre (MCHC) popularly known as Manohara clinic on 15th March 2008 in Madhyapur Thimi municipality, ward no:16, Lokanthali. Since its inception, MCHC is providing EHCS to poor, marginalised people living in the areas of Lokanthali, Jadibuti, Kaushaltar and Manohara area.
Rapid Assessment of 20 Urban Health Clinics (UHCs) in Kathmandu: In November 2011, we provided technical support to Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office in assessing 20 UHCs, where we found considerable gaps in maintaining a minimum standard of care, specifically in basic health service infrastructure, quality of care and capacity to deliver EHCS.
Facilitation in developing an Urban Health Policy in Nepal: HERD has been working closely with the MoHP/PHCRD, MoUD, MoFALD, Kathmandu Metropolitan City and other stakeholders to draft an Urban Health Policy in Nepal. In the process of developing the Policy, HERD has been providing technical inputs from our experience of working in urban health.
Sensitisation of the stakeholders on the need for an Urban Health Policy: HERD have been sensitising stakeholders on the need for an Urban Health Policy. Formal and informal meetings had been held between HERD and concerned stakeholders, which has contributed to developing a momentum in drafting the Urban Health Policy 2010.
Processes involved developing Urban Health Strategy
Formation of Urban Health Technical Working Group: An Urban Health Technical Working Group (UHTWG) was formed on 25 July 2014 under the leadership of the Director of PHCRD, DoHS. In the meeting, we shared the outline of the Urban Health Strategy and necessary feed-back was collected.
Drafting of the UHS: We are in the process of drafting the UHS, which will be shared with the UHTWG for feedback.
Regional and National Consultative Workshops: One national and 5 regional consultative workshops will be conducted to collect feedback on the draft UHS.
Testing of the UHS: An Urban Health Care Model will be tested in selected UHCs.
Evaluation of the Strategy: A Rapid Assessment of the UHS will be performed to assess the cost-effectiveness and feasibility of the Urban Health Care Model.
Finalisation of the Strategy: The Strategy will be finalised by incorporating findings from the RA.
