Kathmandu, April 7:

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has called on all to join hands to keep diseases caused by natural calamities at bay.

In his message on the occasion of the World Health Day, the Prime Minister said, “Every person has the right to lead a healthy life,” adding, “When a new Nepal is in the making, it should be the topmost priority of the government to make medicines and treatment accessible to the people.”

“Nutritious food, safe drinking water, healthy diet and habits and timely intervention against diseases create a healthy society,” he said, asking all to join hands to achieve these ends.

Addressing a programme organised to mark the WHD, Ram Chandra Man Singh, the health secretary, said the government was planning to work together with private organisations to make drinking water and sanitation facilities available for all.

Kan Tun, the WHO representative to Nepal, said investment should be made in health, sanitation and drinking water sectors for health security. According to the MoHP, 80 per cent of communicable diseases can be checked if people have access to clean drinking water and proper sewage disposal.

Meanwhile, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the executive director of the UN Population Fund, said in a press release that protecting the health of mothers goes a long way but the reality is that one woman dies every minute during pregnancy and childbirth, leaving over half-a-million women dead each year and one million children motherless.