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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF COMMUNITY DIAGNOSIS FIELD REPORT 2006, MURALI
BHANJYANG
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- Pranawa Koirala, Nishant Dhakal, Rabin Dahal, Prabhat
Jha, Nirajan Shrestha, Kishor Joshi, Mariyam Ahmed, Sadichhya Lohani, Sapana
Bhandari and Shooga Moosa. |
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While
climbing uphill with heavy bags and hurting backs, we were quite concerned
about our fate. No one knew what to expect of the people and place.
But little did we know that a month long part of our studies would
turn to be a lifelong part of memories and also can convey fruitful
information about the health condition of Murali Bhanjyang VDC. It
was strange to notice that even being so close to the capital city,
the place was so different from it. There were plenty of things to
learn from their lifestyle and in this report; we keep an account of
our findings.
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Between the rustle of leaves, the chirping of thousand
insects, the harshness of the midday sun slashing every bit of life out
of their bodies, emerged ten pair of legs one day, tired with the long
walk and hating every bit or their imagination and expectation of their
yet unknown destination, made on the prerequisite of the reality of the
hateful journey. Thirsty as the Sahara sands, searching for any bits
of homeliness the place had to offer, the strangers made their way slowly
through the wilderness, hating every bit of those moments. |
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| But as we begin our survey we gradually fall in love with that harshness,
the wilderness and even with those very moments which we hated so much
at that time. From this survey we learned the reality of life in its primitive
pursuit of mere necessities for survival. |
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| The VDC of Murali Bhanjyang lies at a distance of about 75 km from the
capital city-Kathmandu. Being a hilly region it boasts of plenty of panoramic
and exotic views of mountains wide extending from Jyamrung VDC in the south.
Likewise, Sangkosh and Nilkhanta VDC in the east and Chainpur and Dhola
VDC in the west bond its ranges. |
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| Despite being a comparatively developed VDC in terms of transportation
and other facilities like electricity and communication, we found the culture
and tradition of the VDC untouched by modernization. While it was good
to know that most of the diseases eventually found way to modern health
facilities, but still it was disheartening to find that many people
still go to traditional healers like Dhaami and Jhankri at first. |
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| Murali Bhanjyang has a total population of 8211 belonging to different
ethnic groups, the majority being Brahamins and Chettris (29.95%) closely
followed by Newar 24.80%, Kumal 12.06%, Kami 10.50%,
Gurung 9.28% , Magar 7.17% and rest by other communities. Most
of the people speak Nepali (98.73%) as their mother language and majority
of the people are Hindus (96%) by religion. |
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| As we know that, main occupation of our country is agriculture. Almost
76% of the population in this VDC is engaged in agriculture as their
main occupation. |
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| Moreover, population growth rate of the VDC is found to be 2.096% making
the population doubling time 33.397 yrs. The average family size is 6.4
majorities being joint families (52.96%). Furthermore, the Crude Birth
Rate is 29.47 per 1000 of the total population. Whereas, the Crude Death
Rate is 8.51 per 1000 of the total population. We were happy to know that
the Maternal Mortality rate is 0. However, Infant Mortality rate is 37.03
per 1000 live births and Neonatal mortality rate (i.e., death within 28
days of birth) is 18.52 per 1000 live births. |
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| The most common cause of morbidity in the VDC is gastrointestinal problem
accounting for 27% of all diseases followed by respiratory problems (24%).People
of Murali Bhanjyang VDC have satisfactory knowledge on cause, prevention
and preference of treatment for diseases in general. However, their KAP
(Knowledge, Attitude and Practice) on mode of transmission, prevention
and treatment of diseases like Tuberculosis and Leprosy isn’t good.
80% of the population does not know about DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment
Short course). Moreover, 57% of the total population doesn’t know
the cause of the Night Blindness and 30% doesn’t know the source
of Vitamin A. 28% of population believe that malnutrition to be caused
by touching pregnant women. The personal hygiene of people of the VDC is
overall satisfactory among which the adolescents have good knowledge on
management of common injuries and are aware about cause and prevention
of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Also the most of the mothers have knowledge
on cause, prevention and treatment of diarrhea, pneumonia and worms but
in case of malnutrition is found to be unsatisfactory. According to the
MUAC (Mid Upper Arm Circumference) measurement, 78.86% children are adequately
nourished while from the Gomez classification 49% children were found to
have mild malnutrition, 32.7% moderate malnutrition and 5.5% severe malnutrition. Mothers
know about ORS but still many do not know the correct method of its preparation. |
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| Furthermore, the first age of pregnancy was found to be 17-20 yrs
in 60.14%. It was also found that only 4.41% of pregnant women had gone
for all the four Antenatal visits while 42. 65% women had gone for only
one Antenatal checkup.56% of the people who have heard of family planning
use one or the other measures of family planning. 60.66% of them use
temporary while 39.34% use permanent method. Most popular permanent family
planning method is vasectomy (87.5%) and use of Depo among women is 70.27%.
Moreover, 74.48% prefer new blade for cutting cord at birth. Only 54.29%
people have heard of Safe Delivery Kit. Also, 26.43% births are only
attended by trained birth attendants while 20% by health workers. Furthermore,
82.19% people practiced colostrums feeding and 76% children were exclusively
breast fed for four to six months. Immunization coverage was found to
be very good in the VDC. |
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| As we went through the research the median age of the population is 21.56
yrs. The total literacy rate of the VDC is 66.3% in which male literacy
rate is found to be 77.87% while the female literacy rate is 56.02%. |
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| Furthermore, the most common source of drinking water is tap. But, most
of the people use water directly from source without treatment for drinking.
Whereas, the electricity and the seasonal road are available in all the
wards of the VDC. The major means of the communication is radio. However,
some houses also have television and telephone as the medium of communication.
Majority of the houses are Kachcha-Pakka (61%) whereas, 57% of the houses
have unsatisfactory lighting condition also 61% of houses have unsatisfactory
ventilation with only one window in one room. 95% houses use wood fire
as source of fuel and rest uses the stove.53% of houses have satisfactory
waste disposal system. Also, 70% houses have toilets, majority being pit
latrine (38%). So, we found that the health condition of the VDC needs much
more improvement. |
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At last but not the least, far from our cozy homes, the humdrum of
their modern lives, struggling for the facilities, the destination unfolded
itself as a place far, way too far dissolved, preoccupied with its own
struggle for simple necessities of life. Those harsh mountains, those
painted fields, those singing streams, those simple people and all those
little things would remain engraved in our hearts- pleasant memories
forever. |
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