CCOUC Nepal Visit and Health Intervention 2019

A team of 22 trainees and trainers from CCOUC visited Bahunepati, Sindulpalchok in Nepal from 15 to 20 January 2019. The team was trained through needs assessment and health education activities in the trip.

To gain a deeper understanding in local health emergency response settings, the team visited Dhulikhel Hospital to know more about the development of healthcare system in Nepal. The visit to the National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) enabled the team to learn about their work in advocacy, capacity building, infrastructure construction and international collaborations. Through these two visits, the team had gained insights on the roles of non-governmental organisations in disaster risk reduction and medical settings.

Based on the results of the needs assessment conducted in 2018, the team designed and organized health education activities for the local villagers this January; topics included disaster preparedness, wound management and waste management. More than 90 villagers attended the activities and showed increased awareness towards health and disaster-related messages during post-intervention survey. Through interaction with villagers, the team realized the importance of empowering youths in mobilizing community members and facilitating the promotion of health messages.

In sum, this journey has deepened the team’s understanding of the public health needs of local villagers. Team members also had an opportunity to understand how multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary cooperation and communication operate during disaster response, in order to bring about the results of disaster preparedness and disaster risk reduction information for different communities.