Kathmandu, April 12

The fourth National Summit of Health and Population Scientists in Nepal concluded here today.

Organised by Nepal Health Research Council, under the theme Advancing Evidence for Changing Health Systems in Nepal, the two-day national summit shed light on breastfeeding practices, abortion, blood pressure, stigma of mental illness, trauma severity in children, post traumatic stress disorder and depression among patients undergoing haemodialysis, among others.

Sixty-five research papers and 67 posters related to public health issues were presented during the two-day national summit. Speakers shed light on the quality of water supplied to households, quality of life of women, and communicable and non-communicable diseases.

The summit also made a seven-point declaration to undertake a rigorous appraisal of health research system including available resources, institutional and individual expertise, areas of research priority, with a view to advancing research system in the federal set-up.

The speakers also stressed the need to give continuity to quality research for generation and application of knowledge towards improving health system performance, strengthen mechanisms to promote researchers, and foster partnership among academia and research institutions.