2015 Nepal earthquake : communicable disease occurrences and management in Gorkha district

Abstract

Nepal faced different challenges in disaster response following the 2015 catastrophe. Amongst was the management on communicable disease occurrences in the aftermath of an earthquake. The main objective of this study was to analyze how the government specifically in Gorkha District managed the occurrences of communicable diseases aligned to the existing health law, policy and plan the Ministry of Health has. This study utilized a qualitative research approach through the description to the management of communicable disease occurrences post-disaster incorporating Nepal's health legal instruments. This study analyzed government documents, official reports, and responses from the interviewees. The respondents of this study were composed of health care experts (2), health care workers (12), and disaster victims (66) in the district. This study found that several provisions on the right to health were not applied in reality particularly in the issues of insufficient data recording on syndromic disease cases, shortage on health workforce, insufficient supply of essential medicines, unmanaged overcrowding in temporary shelter, lack of access to safe water and sanitation, untimely and incomplete reporting on syndromic disease surveillance, and the lack of awareness on country's health law, policy and plan of some health workers in the villages. These are clear indications of noncompliance of the state's obligations stipulated in International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966, Constitution of Nepal 2015 and National Health Policy 2014. This further led to some recommendations for some modifications on the program implementations on the underlying determinants of health and some positive adjustments on the health approaches on the management of communicable disease occurrences post disaster.