Pursuant to Section 49 of the Public Health Service Act, 2075 (2018), in cases where listed infectious diseases or unforeseen public health events occur, information shall be communicated to the concerned authority within the prescribed time frame. This obligation is to ensure the collection, reporting, analysis, communication, and response relating to infectious diseases and public health events, as well as to conduct continuous disease surveillance in accordance with the International Health Regulations, 2005 (IHR 2005), under which certain diseases must be reported immediately at the international level. Accordingly, in exercise of the authority conferred by Section 64 of the Act, the Ministry of Health and Population, Department of Health Services hereby updated the EWARS Standard Operating Procedure 2025.
Jan 1
Flooding in the rural districts of Bagmati Province creates the classic postdisaster conditions for communicable disease transmission: contamination of drinking-water sources, destruction of latrines, displacement of populations into crowded temporary shelters, interruption of health services and cold chain, expansion of vector breeding habitat, and loss of livestock with associated zoonotic exposure. Floods do not import new pathogens; they amplify the pathogens already endemic in the area. Preparedness must therefore be built on what is known to circulate in Bagmati Province — including the enteric pathogens Vibrio cholerae O1, Salmonella Typhi and hepatitis A and E viruses, together with dengue virus, Orientia tsutsugamushi, Leptospira species, Japanese encephalitis virus, measles virus, and residual foci of malaria and visceral leishmaniasis. Two operational realities shape this plan. First, the interval between exposure and detectable clusters is short for enteric disease (2–14 days) and long for vector-borne and leptospiral disease (2–8 weeks), so surveillance intensity must be sustained well beyond the point at which media and political attention recede. Second, the routine surveillance system will be degraded exactly when it is most needed, because reporting health facilities may be damaged, staff displaced and connectivity lost. Apparent declines in reported cases in the first weeks after a flood are more often artefacts of reporting failure than evidence of control.
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Jan 1
Acute Gastro Enteritis was the highest reported condition, accounting for 721 cases.
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Jan 1
Acute Gastro Enteritis was the highest reported condition, accounting for 667 cases.
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