KATHMANDU, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Nepal is launching a one-year project to deliver mobile reproductive health services to the conflict-hit in six hill and mountain districts of the far-western and mid-western regions of Nepal, The Himalayan Times reported on Thursday.
The UNFPA said in a press release that the project will serve 15,000 women, men and adolescents affected by the conflict, according to the newspaper.
The Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission is funding the project.
"This project is highly relevant to ensure that preventive and corrective measures for reproductive health concerns can be provided before they severely limit livelihood," the statement quoted Junko Sazaki, the UNFPA representative to Nepal, as saying.
Mobile health clinics will provide diverse health services, including diagnosis, counseling, treatment and referrals of cases to the National Health System, addressing potentially life-threatening concerns such as safe family planning and childbirth, emergency obstetric care, gender-based violence and sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS, the release said.
The camps will also provide vital surgical services, such as prolapsed uterus correction.
According to the report, the project will also provide training to local health service providers, so that they can provide reproductive health care in crisis settings.
The project falls under UNFPA's long-term strategy to improve the reproductive health status of women and to advance women's empowerment, the release said.
Over 80 percent of Nepalis live in rural areas, where basic health care services remain limited, it said. In addition, the 10-year conflict has jeopardized the provision of basic health care services, exacerbating the lack of health workers, health facilities and medical supplies.
As a result, the burden of the most common diseases, including maternal illnesses, which are estimated to grow by 100,000 new cases per year, remains almost unattended, it said. Enditem
