Himalayan HealthCare (HHC) has been working in Nepal for 25 years to deliver health, education and income-generating programs to hundreds of thousands of individuals in hard-to-reach villages, most of which are accessible only by foot. HHC trains local health providers and supports community education programs on nutrition, disease prevention and family planning, offering long-term, sustainable solutions to Nepal's health and development challenges.
Nepal is one of the world's least developed countries. Half the population lives in poverty, with high rates of malnourishment, child mortality and illiteracy. A decade-long civil war further hindered the government's ability to provide healthcare. The Ilam region, high in the Himalayas, previously had only one doctor to serve its entire population of 250,000, leaving villagers without adequate healthcare and forcing many to travel long distances to clinics in the lowlands or Indian bordertowns.
HHC's Dr. Parajuli Community Hospital, built in 2004, provides Ilam villagers with 24-hour medical care, including basic surgery, prenatal care and dental and optometry services. More than 7,600 patients have been treated in 2012 alone through in-house services and 5 mobile camps in surrounding villages. HHC's services have changed countless lives and helped reduce the infant mortality rate in certain villages it serves from 225 per 1,000 births to 15 per 1,000, well below the national average.
HHC's Community Hospital was founded on the belief that government provision of healthcare has failed the people of Nepal and that sustainable healthcare must instead be rooted in community institutions supported by the local population through fees for service and donations. With help from donors like you, HHC hopes to create a self-sustaining hospital that can be turned over to the people of Ilam and that will serve as a model for similar projects in other hard-to-reach parts of Nepal.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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