Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first COVID-19 case was reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. The first COVID-19 case in Nepal was reported in January 2020 in a Nepalese man who had returned from Wuhan to Nepal. This study aims to evaluate the government of Nepal’s (GoN) response to the COVID-19 pandemic and explore ways to prevent COVID-19 and other pandemic diseases in the future. As of May 2022, a total of 979,140 cases and 11,951 deaths associated with COVID-19 have been reported in Nepal. To prevent the spread of the virus, the GoN initiated various preventive and control measures, including lockdown strategies. The effects of COVID-19 are expected to persist for many years; the best strategies a resource-limited country such as Nepal can implement to control pandemic diseases such as COVID-19 in the pre-vaccine stage are to increase testing, tracing, and isolation capacity.

Objectives: To characterize the etiology of infectious vaginitis among reproductive-aged women visiting a tertiary care hospital in Nepal. Methods: The vaginal samples were collected from woman with abnormal vaginal discharge. Nugent's score system and Amsel’s criteria were used in diagnosing bacterial vaginosis (BV), wet mount preparation was done to diagnose trichomonal vaginitis (TV), and Aerobic vaginitis (AV), and vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) were diagnosed by culture method. Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines were used to assess the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of aerobic bacteria and Candida isolates. Results: Out of 141 reproductive-aged women included, 60.3% presented with thin and scanty vaginal discharge, 52.5% had clear to white discharge, and 39.0% had vulvovaginal itching. The overall rate of any type of infectious vaginitis was 44.0% with the predominance of BV (19.8%) followed by AV (12.8%), VVC (11.3%), and TV (7.1%). Infectious vaginitis was frequent among women between the age of 25 and 34 years. BV was significantly associated with malodorous discharge (p = 0.002) and VVC was significantly higher in women with vulvovaginal itching (p = 0.009). The most common aerobic bacteria that caused AV was Escherichia coli, while Candida albicans represented the most common cause of VVC. Conclusion: Incorporating simple laboratory test in management of vaginal discharge cases helps identify correct etiology minimizing the disease burden with appropriate use of antibiotics.