"That is what partnership is all about. I trust your answer will be positive so that I can go back home with a promise of concrete actions to improve the health and quality of the life for the people of Nepal," the prime minister said while addressing a high-level event to mark the culmination of the work of the Taskforce on Innovative Financing for Health Services. The event was organized on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly by the taskforce which is co-chaired by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and World Bank President Robert Zoellick.
Stating that Nepal halved the number of maternal deaths as well as the number of deaths under five in the past decade, he said Nepal was committed to ensure right to free basic health care to the people and that every woman shall have the right to reproductive health care. "Our latest major policy is the introduction of free maternity services since January this year," he told the international community.
"Even with these significant achievements, sadly one mother dies during child birth every four hours and 110 newborns die every day," he said.
The prime minister said the government will further reduce financial barriers to the poor with providing incentive cash-in-hand to women to attend antenatal care and to quickly scale up free maternity care. "This will enable 1.5 million women to have a safer delivery over the next five years," he said. Nepal said safer deliveries will require that the government provide a further 4,000 skilled birth attendants, have birthing facilities in all health posts and caesarean section facilities in all district hospitals.
He said the commitments will be taken forward by the ministry of health and population´s next five year strategic plan which commences from next summer. "To deliver my vision of a sustainable equitable health system, we need adequate resources," he said.
Holistic support in peacemaking
Meanwhile, addressing a meeting of heads of state and government of major countries contributing troops for UN peace missions and hosted by US President Barrack Obama on Wednesday, PM Nepal underscored the need of holistic support in peacemaking.
"Unless we dovetail peacekeeping with peacemaking and peace building, experience tells us that conflicts might relapse sooner than later leading to even more complicated spiral of conflicts. Holistic support is required," he said.
He remarked that over the years peacekeeping has undergone a major transformation and complex operations have now evolved ranging from acting as buffer in inter-caste conflicts to ceasefire monitoring to post-conflict stabilization and peace building. "We need to be more innovative to make peacekeeping a more efficient and effective undertaking," he added.
He pointed out that there were political, managerial and logistical challenges to peacekeeping. "This calls for a comprehensive review. Clarity of mission, effective coordination, flexibility to adjust to the ground realities, and strong institutional support reinforce the effectiveness of peacekeeping," he said.
He expressed that Nepal, the fifth largest troop contributor, remained committed to continue participating in the peacekeeping operations at the call of the UN. He said Nepal stands ready to enhance the current level of participation if there is support for contingent-owned equipment, which constrains "our capacity for timely deployment".
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