Central Region lags far behind western regions in health indicator

KATHMANDU, March 16: The Central Region is considered to be the most developed and advanced region in overall perspective among the five development regions. Similarly, the Mid-western and Far-western regions are considered lagging farthest behind the Central Region.

The above indicator might be true in various cases but not in health indicators, especially in seeking safe delivery services.The annual data of 2014/2015 provided by the Family Health Division (FHD) under the Department of Health Services (DoHS) shows that institutional delivery rate in Mid-western and Far-western regions is the highest among all five regions.

The data show that Central Region, where the capital city is located, lags far behind compared to other regions in trend of seeking safe delivery services.

According to the annual report, only 40.9 percent pregnant women of the Central Region gave birth in safe way at health care facilities. Whereas in the Mid-western and Far-western regions 66.1 percent and 66.2 percent pregnant women gave birth to their babies at health care facilities respectively. The Eastern Region has 48.9 percent institutional delivery rate. Similarly the Western Region has 50.4 percent institutional delivery rate.

"The Mid-western Region and Far-western Region are far ahead than the Central Region," Dr Silu Aryal, chief of Safe Motherhood Program at the FHD, said. She said that the incentives and free delivery services provided by the government have yielded positive results in those regions.

According to Dr Aryal, people of the Central Region seem more conservative than the people of other parts of the country in terms of seeking institutional delivery services. She said that the districts of central Tarai have very low institutional delivery rate and the Kathmandu Valley and other hilly districts of the region have comparatively better institutional delivery rate compared to the districts of Central Tarai.

"Due to the traditional mindset and conservative culture, a lot of women have been still giving birth to their babies at homes," added Dr Aryal. She said that people of Chamar, Musahar, Chepang, Muslim and other marginalized communities are reluctant to seek institutional delivery service.

The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has started free institutional delivery services with incentives to check the existing maternal mortality rate since 2009. With the start of free services in government health facilities, institutional delivery rate has increased by more than two folds.

Related story

Wins for Eastern, Western regions