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Background
Nepal is currently facing a “double burden of disease”. While the incidence of most
infectious diseases is decreasing, emerging infectious diseases such as dengue fever,
scrub typhus, and influenza are on the rise. By 2040, mortality associated with
communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases is predicted to remain fairly
high at 12.47%. Simultaneously, the burden of noncommunicable diseases such as
diabetes and cancer is on the rise, particularly in urban areas.
There is a great deal of inequality among populations that experience this disease
burden. When Nepal’s Human Development Index is adjusted for inequality, it falls to
44%, below the South Asian average. These health inequalites are reflected in health
indicators such as life expectancy and maternal mortality. Social determinants of health
are defined as the material, social, political, and cultural conditions that influence health:
these factors are crucial for understanding risk and buden of disease and cannot be
excluded from considerations of public health policy and health interventions. Politics,
poverty, and educational and health literacy have been identified as three key
determinants of health in Nepal.
What are we doing at Polygeia?
This project aims to identify and quantify the social determinants most associated with
the double burden of non-communicable and infectious disease in Nepal using a
retrospective cross-sectional study of subnational routine data. Ultimately, our
researchers aim to make policy recommendations for how health interventions could
respond to better address the social factors influencing health. This includes identifying
gaps in Nepalese government policy and NGO interventions, as well as reviewing best
practice in settings with similar disease landscapes to inform future health policy. The
findings of this study will thus have important implications for understanding and
addressing health inequalities and the burden of disease affecting socioeconomically
disadvantaged populations in Nepal.
This blog post was prepared by members of the Polygeia Oxford Branch.