Context
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has been support-ing the Nepalese health sector since 1994. Despite major progress the quality of and access to ser-vice provision still differs between the regions.
In September 2015, the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal transferred many administrative functions to the provinces and municipalities. This offers new prospects for improving the health sector. However, subnational authorities are often not yet accustomed to their new tasks and do not yet fulfil their newly assigned roles.
Currently, Nepal’s social health security schemes do not offer sufficient protection to the citizens, and access to health services remains inequitable. In particular, the sector has wide-ranging mod-ernisation needs with regard to digitalisation. Ever since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it has become even harder to access health care as the facilities are overwhelmed by the demands.
Objective
The Government of Nepal gradually enhances its capability to deliver social protection and health care services to its population.
Approach
The project supports the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) to implement the Nepal Health Sector Strategy (NHSS) (2015-2020), which was extended until June 2022. It focuses on four fields of activity:
• Social Health Protection: improving core processes of the Health Insurance Board (HIB) and the Social Security Fund (SSF)
• Subnational Health Management: strengthening health management capacities of subnational governments in five municipalities (Bidur, Nilkantha, Nepalgunj, Dhangadi and Godawari) and Sudur Paschhim Province, and improving waste management and infection prevention & hygiene in 13 hospitals
• Integrated Health Information Systems: improving access to digital data and information for health sector management and improving the interoperability of various systems.
• Reproductive Health: institutionalisation of selected approaches for the improvement of repro-ductive health services, which includes the training of birth attendants and menstrual health ser-vices