Nepal has made impressive health gains over the past decade despite conflict and other difficulties. The goal of the Nepal Health Sector Support Programme, is to improve the health status of the Nepali population, and to continue the gains achieved so far in improving the health status of Nepali citizens and progress towards reaching MDGs 4, 5 and 6, through focusing on:

• facilitating access to and utilisation of essential health care and other health services
• emphasising services to women, children, and underprivileged
• changing risky life styles and behaviours of most at-risk populations through behaviour change and communication interventions.
  

Options is working with Nepal’s Health Sector Support Programme, providing strategic support in the following areas:

• Health systems strengthening
• Health policy and planning
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Maternal and newborn survival
• Procurement
• Aid effectiveness.

Options has been working with the Government of Nepal since 1997, managing DFID’s flagship maternal and newborn health programmes. The Support to the Safe Motherhood Programme (SSMP) 2005–2010, provided technical support to the Government of Nepal to improve maternal and newborn survival and followed the Nepal Safer Motherhood Project (NSMP) which was implemented from 1997–2004. Many studies have documented SSMP and NSMP’s success in reducing maternal mortality. During the 14 years that Options has been providing technical support in safe motherhood in Nepal, maternal mortality has halved from 539 to 281 deaths per 100,000 live births (Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, 2006). The International Development Committee of the House of Commons gave ringing praise to the SSMP and NSMP programmes in its Maternal Health Parliamentary Committee Report from 2007–2008.

The Nepal Health Sector Support Programme is a three-year programme funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
 
To learn more about the Nepal Health Sector Support Programme, contact Sarah Hepworth This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it