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The salience of mental health for one’s overall health has only grown during the pandemic. The forced isolation during the pandemic made problems worse for those suffering from different mental health issues–and also produced countless first-time sufferers. Recent surveys suggest that as many as 60 percent of those aged 18-40 suffered from one or the other mental health problem during the pandemic. We as a country need to tackle this problem–and soon. ApEx recently organized a roundtable discussion on the topic, with the intent of ferreting out the most prevalent mental health issues among Nepalis and to understand what it could do to bring greater awareness and relief. Here are excerpts from the roundtable.   

Nishma Chaudhary, Cofounder, My Sirani

Since the start of the pandemic in particular, technology has contributed to many mental health problems. People are now spending a lot of time on their gadgets, lost in their own world. With excessive use of social media, many have even lost the ability to communicate properly in person. We need a positive social orientation on how we can make the best use of technology. For instance, technology has helped with online psychological counseling. In itself, technology is not good or bad. It is the people who make it so. 

Kapil Sharma, Counseling psychologist, Hudec Nepal

Around a percent of the national health budget is currently allocated to mental health. But that is just one issue. We also need to speak out about the government’s role in different sectors for the betterment of people’s mental health. If the state can take a stand, there can be better awareness and education on mental health. Along with that, there is the need to normalize the conversation on mental health, and to avoid using sensitive words and be empathetic and accepting.

Bhawana Shrestha, Cofounder, My Emotions Matter

Today, teenagers and young adults have multiple issues with their parents. The parents’ expectations are high. It is not uncommon for children to simply wilt under this pressure. We need to encourage and spread awareness among older generations to support their child’s mental and emotional health, their need for counseling, or any sort of support system they need to help them take care of themselves. 

Dr Rishav Koirala, Psychiatrist, Grande Hospital

Depression, anxiety and stress are some of the most common problems I've noticed among the youth. The pandemic only made them worse. It tested people’s coping mechanisms and increased their sense of isolation. We need to educate ourselves on the importance of taking care of our mental health and reaching out to others when things are not going well. Along with psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors, we need more educators, advocates and enthusiasts who can spread the word. It is okay to talk and share about mental health problems, and to understand that every problem has a solution.

Shreeya Giri, Founder and Managing Director of Happy Minds

The absence of assertive communication is a major cause of mental health problems. In many cases, the lockdown helped build a barrier between children and their parents. Children aren't able to share what they are going through with their parents. This is causing them to be very reserved. The stigmatization is still there, and the practice of seeking help is still not normalized in many families. We need to advocate for change in our roots first. It will be hard to have a healthy frame of mind unless we learn to assertively express our thoughts and feelings

On December 6, 2021,the USAID Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Partnership and Learning for Sustainability (WASHPaLS) program convened 75 Nepali business leaders and policy makers for ‘Menstruation at Work: Improving Business Outcomes.’ This event marked the end of a groundbreaking nine-month pilot operation that demonstrated how Nepali businesses can improve menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in their workplaces while also promoting inclusive growth.

Menstruation is often a source of shame, embarrassment, and physical discomfort for women in Nepal and globally. This can prevent women from going to work, from engaging at their full potential in the workplace, or from excelling on the job, which in turn can negatively impact household income and the national economy. Based on the two pilot programs at Shangrila Carpet Factory and Milha Custom Rugs, ‘Menstruation at Work: Improving Business Outcomes’ highlighted the impact of private sector leadership in creating menstruation-friendly workplaces on women, businesses, and inclusive economic growth for all Nepali people.

Dr. Dil Bahadur Gurung from the National Planning Commission was the Chief Guest and provided remarks. Dr. Usha Jha, former member of the National Planning Commission, gave the key note address.

USAID/Nepal Mission Director Sepideh Keyvanshad attended the event, noting “USAID is collaborating with the private sector to help meet our joint responsibility for improving society, while making sure economic growth is inclusive of the vulnerable, the poor, and the marginalized populations, leaving no one behind.” She continued, “We hope the results from the study will generate more interest among business leaders and public sector experts in addressing menstrual hygiene management in the workplace, because it is good for employees and for businesses.”

A panel discussion moderated by the Vice President of the Federation of Women Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal, Neeru Rayamajhi Katri, also took place during the event. The panel of experts included Guna Raj Shrestha from the MHM Partners Alliance, Dr. Anjana Dongol from the Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Dorje Lama the owner of Shangrila Carpet Factory, and Jiblal Pokharel from Nepal CRS Company. 

USAID WASHPaLS is a five-year (2016–2021) activity funded by USAID’s Bureau for Global Health that identifies and shares best practices for achieving sustainability, scale, and impact of environmental health and WASH interventions. 

Devendra Paudel, Minister for Education, Science and Technology and also the pro-chancellor of National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), unveiled a book named ‘Wild Edible Fruits of Nepal’ written by NAST researcher Dr Lok Ranjan Bhatt over an online conference.

Altogether 256 wild edible fruits (WEFs) consumed in various parts of Nepal are included in this book. They belong to 144 genera under 68 families. The book includes more than 160 colour photographs of selective WEFs. 

The content of the book is organized into three sections. The first part provides introduction of wild edible fruits, and outlines the traditional knowledge, diversity and utilization practices of WEFs in Nepal. This section also highlights the role of WEFs in food and nutritional security, income and employment generation and their conservation and management. The second part includes the brief review of the earlier works carried out on Nepalese WEFs. The third part includes taxonomic description of the taxa along with their phenology, ecology, distribution, uses and nutritional values (if any).

The plant species are arranged alphabetically in descending order. Species information begins with accepted scientific name, followed by synonyms (if any), family, vernacular names, taxonomic description, distribution, ecology, flowering and fruiting time, uses, and nutritional values. Vernacular name(s) practiced by different communities in Nepal are arranged alphabetically while English names are put at the end.  

UN Special Rapporteur Olivier De Schutter has said that Nepal has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, but many of its promises still are to be fulfilled.

The UN official made such remarks after conducting an 11-day official mission to the country.

Nepal has succeeded in reducing multidimensional poverty by 12.7 percent between 2014 and 2019, and its Human Development Index has improved, as have indicators related to health and education. But significant gaps remain, the UN expert said.

“Women are still lagging on a number of indicators. Though banned, caste-based and ethnicity-based discrimination remain a reality in social life, and it is a major factor explaining the perpetuation of poverty. Land issues remain unresolved, despite the efforts to accelerate the rehabilitation of former bonded laborers and to ensure landless Dalit benefit from land redistribution.”

Says De Chutter poverty reduction owes more to remittances than to proactive Government anti-poverty policies. "A quarter of the decline in poverty can be attributed to outmigration only, with estimates showing that, without remittances, poverty would have increased in Nepal,” he said.

Remittances in Nepal were 10 times larger than foreign aid and 2.5 larger than total exports only in 2017.

 “It is clear that much more needs to be done by the Government to meet its own target of reducing multidimensional poverty to 11.5 percent by 2023-2024,” the expert said.

“The Government should ensure its skills and training programs reach the poorest families. While public works programs such as the Prime Minister’s Employment Program have considerable potential, in practice the program has yet to deliver on its promise of providing 100 days of work per person per year.

“In the country, 80 percent of workers are informal, which exposes them to higher rates of abuse, largely because the Government lacks the ability to enforce minimum wage legislation in the informal sector. Although informal workers should also contribute to and benefit from the Social Security Fund, there is currently no plan to include them in the program.”

De Schutter’s fact-finding mission began on 29 December, just weeks after the UN General Assembly voted a resolution inviting Nepal, along with Bangladesh and Lao People’s Democratic Republic, to prepare for graduation from the status of Least Developed Country (LDC) to that of an emerging economy. The country will benefit from a five-year transition period. “Graduation from LDC status is a major milestone for Nepal,” said De Schutter. “Poverty reduction must be at the heart of the country’s transition strategy to ensure that no groups are left behind.”

The UN expert met with communities who suffer from intersecting forms of deprivation. Most were landless daily wage laborers working in agricultural or informal jobs and struggling to send their children to school. Many were from historically disadvantaged and discriminated groups including Dalit, Madhesi, and Indigenous people, as well as women. “The stark inequalities resulting from the deeply entrenched norms and values of the Nepali caste system continue to perpetuate disadvantage today,” De Schutter said.

Women suffer the brunt of a historically patriarchal society, earning almost 30 percent less than men, suffering from higher rates of informality, owning only 19.7 percent of homes and land, and enduring a 17.5 percent literacy gap compared to men, the UN poverty expert noted. "Nepal can and must do better,” he said.

Children experience the worst forms of deprivation because of the poverty their families face, he added. Over one million children work in Nepal, and in rural areas over a fifth of children do.

“During my mission, I met with countless families whose children, especially girls, engaged in agricultural or domestic work,” De Schutter said. “Wealth inequality is a major factor: over 20 percent of children in poverty work, compared to only five percent of children from rich families.

“The Government must take child poverty seriously and take the necessary steps to end child marriage and labor and improve quality of and access to education,” he added.

During his mission, the Special Rapporteur visited Bagmati, Karnali, Lumbini provinces, as well as Province 2. He met with nine ministries, including six ministers, as well as local and provincial authorities, people affected by poverty, civil society organizations, and development cooperation and UN agencies.