Efforts Underway to Launch Japan-Backed Maternal Handbooks in Nepal

New Delhi, April 21 (Jiji Press)–The government-backed Japan International Cooperation Agency is working on introducing the country’s maternal and child health handbooks in Nepal. By utilizing such handbooks, which keep track of health checkup results of mothers during their pre- and post-partum periods and of their children, as well as vaccination records, JICA hopes to encourage continuous care and reduce the death rate among both mothers and children in Nepal. Responding to a request by the Nepali government, JICA kicked off the project in April last year, recently completing the first edition of a maternal and child health handbook written in Nepali. A total of 9,000 such handbooks will be handed out to expectant mothers in Gandaki and Lumbini provinces starting June this year. Based on the local feedback, JICA aims to distribute the Nepali handbooks nationwide. At the same time, the agency will work on training and educating local medical staff and volunteers on how to use the handbooks. Medical infrastructure has been lacking in Nepal, with the maternal mortality coming to 151 deaths for every 100,000 births, against Japan’s 3.4. Mortality rates among newborns and infants also remain at a high level in Nepal. “A delay in judgment results in death,” said Kie Kanda, who was sent to Nepal from JICA. The Nepali version of the maternal and child health handbook calls for the active participation of men in childrearing, focusing on warning signs of the health of mothers and their children. The child delivery rate at medical institutions by people at a social disadvantage due to the impact of the country’s history of a Hindu-based caste system and by indigenous people remains at a relatively low level. Kanda said that there is a need for “a comprehensive measure to address disparities.” A predecessor of Japan’s current maternal and child health handbooks was born in 1942. JICA has helped create and introduce the local versions of the handbooks in over 35 countries so far. “When we’re handed our own handbooks when we become adults, we find out just how loved we were growing up, and that feeling gives us reassurance,” Kanda said. The handbooks “not only serve as (a way) to protect our health, but also serve a role of deepening emotional connections between different generations,” she added. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]