KOICA and Health Ministry signs Record of Discussion (RoD) to Empower Rural Communities in Nepal through an Integrated Approach to Health and Income Growth

Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) on behalf of The Government of Nepal and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) on behalf of The Government of the Republic of Korea signed the Record of Discussion (RoD) of the project “Empower Rural Communities in Nepal through an Integrated Approach to Health and Income Growth” on 24th July, 2020 at MoHP.

The RoD was signed by Dr. Jageshwor Gautam, Chief of Health Coordination Division of MoHP and Sunghoon Ko, Country Director of KOICA in Nepal. Korean Government through KOICA will spend US$ 4.7 million for this project for 5 years.

The project will be implemented by KOICA and the Dhulikhel Hospital - Kathmandu University Hospital (DH-KUH) at its outreach centers namely; Manekharka and Hindi in Sindhupalchowk District, Salambu in Kavre District and Puttar in Tanahun District.

The existing outreach centers established by DH-KUH are providing health services to very remote communities of Nepal with low and middle income population. Likewise, they want to enhance the community people’s capacity in income growth through agriculture. Taking this into consideration, this project has been developed as an integrated approach for the health improvement and income growth through agriculture.

This project aims to improve and strengthen the living standard of community people by enhancing access to outreach centers, participatory health and rural development programs, and income generation opportunities. Here, KOICA will establish 2 outreach centers in Hindi and Puttar, provide medical equipment in all 4 outreach centers and implement income generation activities in 3 outreach centers.

Dr. Gautam, Chief of Health Coordination Division of MoHP expressed that though the selected project sites may look nearer to Kathmandu and Pokhara but are one of the most remote areas of Nepal. Establishment of outreach centers for these people will be a great help. He further thanked KOICA for the continuous support to the Government of Nepal and for prioritizing health and economic empowerment as their major working sector. And appreciated DH-KUH for their continuous and profitless efforts to support most remote communities.

Similarly, Country Director of KOICA, Mr. Ko described the project as the joint collaborative approach and hence showed his high hope for the positive impact in the community through this project. Furthermore, he shared that KOICA has been continuously supporting Nepal in various sectors. KOICA has been supporting Nepal to fight COVID-19 pandemic as well.

The Government of the Republic of Korea has been supporting the Government of Nepal through KOICA in various areas of health, education, IT and rural development since 1991.