Toilets provide dignity for Nepal’s disabled

KAPILBASTU, 30 May 2013 (IRIN) - Before my house had a toilet, I would have to ask my grandsons to help me out into a field, hold me up, and stay with me until I was done,” Krishna Devi, a 59-year-old woman with a physical disability in Nepal’s southern Kapilbastu District along the border with India, told IRIN. full report

Analysis: The plight of LGBTI asylum seekers, refugees

KATHMANDU, 7 May 2013 (IRIN) - Refugees and asylum seekers face a host of challenges when crossing borders, but the obstacles are particularly pronounced for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex (LGBTI) persons, say experts. full report

Behaviour change needed to combat malnutrition in Nepal

KATHMANDU, 1 May 2013 (IRIN) - More work is needed to improve nutritional behaviour in Nepal, where nearly half of children under five are chronically malnourished, experts say. full report

Imagining a major quake in Kathmandu

KATHMANDU, 26 April 2013 (IRIN) - It is the nightmare scenario aid workers and government officials have long feared: a massive earthquake striking Nepal’s densely populated Kathmandu Valley, with tens of thousands feared dead. full report

Nepal to boost search-and-rescue capabilities

KATHMANDU, 11 April 2013 (IRIN) - Experts have long predicted widespread devastation and death should a large earthquake hit Nepal, a country with vulnerable infrastructure and ill-equipped urban search-and-rescue teams. In an effort to prepare for such an event, officials have created a strategy to boost emergency responders’ skills. full report

Nepal turns to renewable energy

KATHMANDU, 5 April 2013 (IRIN) - Nepal’s recently adopted policy of subsidizing renewable energy is the latest of many attempts to electrify long-deprived areas, but much more is needed, say experts. full report

Earthquake-proofing Nepal's at-risk airport

KATHMANDU, 2 April 2013 (IRIN) - If an earthquake the magnitude of Haiti’s 2010 quake were to strike Nepal’s capital area, the country’s only international airport would be crippled, with no backup plan for receiving essential relief. But now, in response to long-standing predictions of such a catastrophe, the government has endorsed an earthquake preparedness plan for Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA); the plan is set to become public in one month. full report

Analysis: Rethinking food insecurity in Nepal’s Karnali region

KATHMANDU, 21 March 2013 (IRIN) - Development assistance on its own will not resolve chronic levels of food insecurity in Nepal’s western Karnali Zone, described by many as a “silent emergency”. Rather, a more measured and integrated approach is required in some areas, including relief, say experts and government officials. full report

Analysis: Nepal’s maternal mortality decline paradox

KATHMANDU, 18 March 2013 (IRIN) - While health experts applaud Nepal’s declining maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in recent years, they say this gain is unsustainable if the country does not address its lack of qualified health staff, especially midwives, to keep women in childbirth alive. full report