Suicide has been recognized as a major public health problem with high burden in low and middle income countries. Suicide has long lasting psychological trauma on friends and relatives in addition to loss of economic productivity. Although the need of high quality evidence is essential for designing suicide prevention program, Nepal lacks reliable evidence from nationally representative data. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempt among adolescent students and identify the factors associated with them. Total of 6,531 students of grade 7 to 11 from 74 schools representing all three ecological belts and five development regions participated in this cross sectional study. To select the representative sample from study population, two stage cluster sampling method was used. Standardized self-administered questionnaire were completed by participants. Multivariable logistic regression was done to identify the factors associated with suicidal ideation and attempt. Nearly 13.59% of the participants had considered suicide while 10.33% had attempted it. Food insecurity (OR = 2.32, CI = 1.62–3.32), anxiety (OR = 2.54, CI = 1.49–4.30), loneliness (OR = 2.51, CI = 1.44–4.36) and gender (OR = 1.39, CI = 1.03–1.89) were identified as risk factors of suicidal ideation. Anxiety (OR = 3.02, CI = 1.18–7.74), loneliness (OR = 2.19, CI = 1.28–3.73) truancy (OR = 1.99, CI = 1.40–2.82), cigarette use (OR = 3.13, CI = 1.36–7.23) and gender (OR = 1.60, CI = 1.07–2.39) were identified as risk factors of suicidal attempt. Having 3 or more close friends was found to have protective effect (OR = 0.35, CI = 0.16–0.75) against suicidal attempt. Study reveals relatively high prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicidal attempt among school-going adolescents in Nepal. Appropriate coping strategies for factors like anxiety, loneliness seem could be useful for preventing both suicidal ideation and attempt.

Continuum of Care (CoC) is an essential strategy to prevent maternal and child deaths where health services are arranged in a pathway throughout pregnancy, childbirth and after delivery. However, CoC is still a challenge in Nepal. This study aimed to investigate the correlates of CoC from pregnancy to the postnatal period in Nepalese women aged 15 to 49 years. Secondary analysis was performed on the data from Nepal Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. This led to a sample size of 2086 women who had a live birth within two years preceding the survey. We constructed three outcome models and conducted multivariable logistic regression, to assess socio-economic and demographic correlates of CoC from pregnancy to childbirth to postnatal period. Overall, 41% of the women received Antenatal Care (ANC), delivery from Skilled Birth Attendant (SBA) as well as the Postnatal Care (PNC) during their most recent birth. Women from rural areas (aOR 0.25, 95%CI: 0.18, 0.36) had reduced odds of receiving CoC while women belonging to advantaged ethnic group (aOR 1.61, 95%CI: 1.18 2.19), from middle wealth status (aOR 2.56, 95%CI: 1.68, 3.91) and upper (aOR 4.50, 95%CI: 3.07, 6.59) wealth status, and women having access to media (aOR 1.76, 95%CI: 1.31, 2.37) had higher odds of receiving CoC from pregnancy to postnatal period. Having more than two births reduced the odds of CoC by 30% (aOR 0.70, 95%CI: 0.50, 0.98). These factors were also significantly associated with ANC services and the continuum from ANC to delivery SBA. The findings suggest that the majority of Nepalese women lack a continuity of care during their pregnancy and childbirth, and several socioeconomic factors affect the spectrum of CoC. Efforts to improve maternal health services utilization in a continuum require strategies that remove demand and supply barriers of health care utilization.

Anemia is regarded as major public health problem among adolescents in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) but there is limited primary data in many countries, including Nepal. This study investigated the prevalence and correlates of anemia in a nationally representative sample of adolescents within the 2014 National Adolescent Nutrition Survey in Nepal. A total of 3780 adolescents aged 10 to 19 years were selected from a cross-sectional survey through multi-stage cluster sampling. Structured interviews, anthropometric measurements and hemoglobin assessments of capillary blood were obtained. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were undertaken to compute the Adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR) for socio-demographic, behavioral and cluster characteristics. The overall prevalence of anemia was 31% (95%CI: 28.2, 33.5), 38% (95%CI: 34.0, 41.8) in female and 24% (95%CI: 20.6, 27.1) in male. The likelihood of anemia was significantly higher among older adolescents (aOR 1.75, 95%CI: 1.44, 2.13), females (aOR 2.02; 95%CI: 1.57, 2.60), among those who walk barefoot (aOR 1.78, 95%CI: 1.08, 2.94), and those residing in the Terai (aOR 1.80, 95%CI: 1.18, 2.77). Food consumption from more than four food groups (aOR 0.71, 95%CI: 0.57, 0.88) was protective against anemia. In conclusion, anemia is common in Nepali adolescents. Efforts to improve the nutritional status of this high-risk age group require nutrition that focus on eating habits, sanitation, iron supplementation and the treatment of hookworm infection.

Air pollution consisting of ambient air pollution and household air pollution (HAP) threatens health globally. Air pollution aggravates the health of vulnerable people such as infants, children, women, and the elderly as well as people with chronic diseases such as cardiorespiratory illnesses, little social support, and poor access to medical services. This study is aimed to estimate the impact of air pollution on global burden of disease (GBD). We extracted data about mortality and disability adjusted life years (DALYs) attributable to air pollution from 1990 to 2019. The extracted data were then organized and edited into a usable format using STATA version 15. Furthermore, we also estimated the impacts for three categories based on their socio-demographic index (SDI) as calculated by GBD study. The impacts of air pollution on overall burden of disease by SDI, gender, type of pollution, and type of disease is estimated and their trends over the period of 1990 to 2019 are presented. The attributable burden of ambient air pollution is increasing over the years while attributable burden of HAP is declining over the years, globally. The findings of this study will be useful for evidence-based planning for prevention and control of air pollution and reduction of burden of disease from air pollution at global, regional, and national levels.

Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are the major killer diseases globally. They share the common risk factors such as smoking, harmful use of alcohol, physical inactivity, and low fruits/vegetable consumption. The clustering of these risk factors multiplies the risk of developing NCDs. NCDs affect women inequitably causing significant threats to the health of women and future generations. But, the distribution and clustering of NCDs risk factors among Nepalese women are not adequately explored yet. This study aimed to assess the clustering and socio-demographic distribution of major NCD risk factors in Nepalese women. We used the data of 6,396 women age 15 to 49 years from the recent Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). The survey applied a stratified multi-stage cluster sampling method to select the eligible women participants from across Nepal. We analyzed data using the multiple Poisson regression and reported the adjusted prevalence ratio (APR). A total of 8.9% of participants were current smokers, 22.2% were overweight and obesity and 11.5% of the participants were hypertensive. Around 6% of participants had co-occurrence of two NCDs risk factors. Smoking, overweight and obesity and hypertension were significantly associated with age, education, province, wealth index, and ethnicity. Risk factors were more likely to cluster in women of age40-49 years (ARR = 2.95, 95%CI: 2.58–3.38), widow/separated (ARR = 3.09; 95% CI:2.24–4.28) and among Dalit women (ARR = 1.34; 95% CI:1.17–1.55). This study found that NCDs risk factors were disproportionately distributed by age, education, socio-economic status and ethnicity and clustered in more vulnerable groups such as widow/separated women and the Dalit women.

Background: Between 1990 and 2017, Nepal experienced a shift in the burden of disease from communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional (CMNN) diseases to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). With an increasing ageing population and life-style changes including tobacco use, harmful alcohol consumption, unhealthy diets, and insufficient physical activity, the proportion of total deaths from NCDs will continue to increase. An analysis of current diseases pattern and projections of the trends informs planning of health interventions. This analysis aims to project the mortality and risk factor of disease until 2040, based on past trends. Methods: This study uses secondary data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study which analyses historic data from 1990 to 2016 to predict key variables such as, the mortality rates, life expectancy and Years of Life Lost for different causes of death from 2017 to 2040. ‘GBD Foresight Visualization’, a visualisation tool publicly available in the webpage of Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation was the source of data for this analysis. GBD forecasting uses three-component modelling process: the first component captures variations due to risk factors and interventions, the second takes into consideration the variation due to measures of development quantified as social development index and the third uses an autoregressive integrated moving average model to capture the unexplained component correlated over time. We extracted Nepal specific data from it and reported number of deaths, mortality rates (per 100,000 population) as well as causes of death for the period 1990 to 2040. Results: In 1990, CMNN diseases were responsible for approximately two-thirds (63.6%) of total deaths in Nepal. The proportion of the deaths from the CMNN diseases has reduced to 26.8% in 2015 and is estimated to be about a fifth of the 1990 figure (12.47%) in 2040. Conversely, deaths from NCDs reflect an upward trend. NCDs claimed a third of total deaths (29.91%) in the country in 1990, while in 2015, were responsible for about two-thirds of the total deaths (63.31%). In 2040, it is predicted that NCDs will contribute to over two-thirds (78.64%) of total deaths in the country. Less than a tenth (6.49%) of the total deaths in Nepal in 1990 were associated with injuries which increased to 13.04% in 2015 but is projected to decrease to 8.89% in 2040. In 1990, metabolic risk factors including high systolic blood pressure, high total cholesterol, high fasting plasma glucose, high body mass index and impaired kidney functions collectively contributed to a tenth of the total deaths (10.38%) in Nepal, whereas, in 2040 more than a third (37.31%) of the total deaths in the country could be attributed to it. Conclusion: A reverse of the situation in 1990, NCDs are predicted to be the leading cause of deaths and metabolic risk factors are predicted to contribute to the highest proportion of deaths in 2040. NCDs could demand a major share of resources within the health sector requiring extensive multi-sectoral prevention measures, re-allocation of resources and re-organisation of the health system to cater for long-term care.