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The Ministry of Health and Population is to innoculate 7.5 million children against typhoid. 

Addressing a press meet organized here today, Chief of the Child Health and Vaccination Section at the Department of Health, Sagar Dahal, said children between the age of one year three months to 15 years would be administered the vaccines against typhoid.

The vaccination program will be conducted from April 8 to May 1. He said the typhoid vaccine would be administered for one time. 

GAVI, the global alliance for vaccines, has provided typhoid vaccines free of cost. Nepal is the first country in South Asia to administer the vaccine against typhoid and the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended vaccination against typhoid in other countries with typhoid prevalence along with Nepal. 

The vaccines will be administered at 56,429 vaccination centres and schools throughout the country. Ten thousand health workers and 112 thousand 858 volunteers will be mobilized for this. 

Section chief Dahal said that going by the data for the last five years, typhoid infection has been found in over 450 thousand people in Nepal. According to him, it was estimated that there were 82 thousand 449 typhoid patients in 2019. Although typhoid infection is seen in people of all age groups, it is more prevalent among children below 15 years.

The Director-General of the Department of Health Services, Dr Dipendra Raman Singh pledged to eliminate typhoid through sanitation and vaccinations. One thousand sixty-two people per 100,000 tests have been infected with the infection, according to a study. 

Stating that the vaccine had been put to use only after its clinical trial, the director of the Family Welfare Division, Dr Bibek Lal said it requires only one dose and it is 85 percent effective. The typhoid conjugate vaccine being administered in Nepal has been approved by the World Health Organisation. 

Common side effects post-vaccination include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach pain and skin rash among others. However, the Department has urged parents to take their children to vaccination centres nearby for the vaccine not being afraid of such common side effects. RSS

Nepal reported 24 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 3, 278 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 21 returned positive. Likewise, 2, 309 people underwent antigen tests, of which three were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 51 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 812 active cases in the country.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 46. 46 points to close at 2,452.06 points on Tuesday.

Similarly, the sensitive dropped by 8. 34 points to close at 458. 22 points.

A total of 5,841,998 units of the shares of 2268companies were traded for Rs 2. 67 billion.

Meanwhile, Rastra Utthan Laghubitta Sanstha Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10 percent. Likewise, Emerging Nepal Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 10 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 48 trillion.

Representatives of the political parties have expressed their commitment to fully abide by the election code of conduct.

The Election Commission had summoned the representatives of the parties registered with the poll body on Tuesday.

The Commission urged the representatives of the political parties not to violate the election code of conduct.

At least 79 parties have been registered at the Election Commission. The Election Commission has already issued the election code of conduct.

Nepali Congress Vice-President Purna Bahadur Khadka on behalf of his party expressed his commitment to fully adhere to the election code of conduct issued by the Election Commission.

Beduram Bhusal, General Secretary of the CPN (Unified Socialist), said that his party would effectively implement the poll code.

Nepal Cancer Relief Society in Association  with Nepal Research Development Institute organized a one day interactive workshop titled “Commitment for Tobacco Tax increment in Local Government Election Manifesto” at Akama Hotel, Dhumbarahi on March 31st, 2022.

The main objective of the event was to interact and gather political commitment from major political parties of Nepal to include tobacco taxation in their  manifesto for the upcoming election, read a statement issued by the Nepal Cancer Relief Society.

The event was organized to sensitize the political parties about the harm caused by tobacco use and urge them to take initiatives to control tobacco in Nepal.

The taxation in tobacco will help ensure the right to health as stated in Chapter 3 of the Constitution of Nepal. It should be a political agenda of every political parties to increase tobacco tax and ensure the optimal health of their voters, the statement read.

The Election Commission (EC) has started printing ballot papers for the local level elections slated for May 13.

In a routine press meet organized by the EC here on Monday, spokesperson Shaligram Sharma shared that the Janak Education Materials Centre, Bhaktapur has been printing the ballot papers.

According to Sharma, a total of 1,940,000 ballot papers of 77 types and 23 rows will be printed for the upcoming local level elections. He informed that ballot papersof 56 rows will be printed for the Kathmandu district while 16 rows will be printed for Dolpa. 

The Commission has already printed 180,000 sets of sample ballot papers to facilitate the political parties in the election campaigns and for voter education. 

The voter list can be obtained from the Commission paying Rs 7,000 for a nationwide voter list and a province-level voter list for Rs 5,000. The official letter from the political party is mandatory to obtain the voter list. 

Similarly, the voter list of the district could be gained for Rs 3,000, Rs 1,000 for municipality level and Rs 500 for ward level. The official letter from a political party or candidate vying in the election is mandatory to get an electronic copy of the voter list. 

The Commission said that it has already implemented directives relating to voter education, election training, and vote counting among others. RSS

The ruling coalition has formed a committee under the headship of Nepali Congress senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel to prepare and monitor the local level elections.

A meeting of the coalition held on Tuesday formed a committee under the leadership of Paudel to prepare and monitor the civic polls scheduled for May 13, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s press coordinator Surya Kiran Sharma said.

He said that Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba briefed the ruling coalition parties on the achievements of his three-day official visit to India.

The prime minister claimed that his visit to India has further strengthened the relationship between the two countries.

The meeting concluded that the head of the government’s visit to India had become successful.

Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushap Kamal Dahal, Janata Samajbadi Federal Council Chairman Baburam Bhattarai, CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal and Nepali Congress senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel among other leaders were present in the meeting.

Sri Lanka's top medical body has declared a public health emergency due to a lack of medicines and equipment in the country, BBC reported.

That means state healthcare facilities which a majority of Sri Lankans depend on, will now only prioritise emergency and urgent care services.

The South Asian nation is grappling with power cuts and shortages due to an economic and foreign exchange crisis.

It has led to mass protests against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Mr Rajapaksa's cabinet has resigned but he has so far refused to go himself. Instead, he called on opposition parties to help him form a national government and accept cabinet portfolios.

The nation's peak medical body, the Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) said it had decided to declare a medical emergency following a crisis meeting on Monday, according to BBC.

Its members across the country were reporting critical shortages of medicine and equipment. Hospitals were also struggling to provide even emergency medical care, the association said.

"Both the government and health ministry have failed to prevent a complete breakdown of the medical system," GMOA said in a statement.

"The government has not even been able to guarantee people's right to life and the right to healthcare services." 

Sri Lanka has a universal public health care system, funded by taxpayer money which means citizens can access free healthcare at any state-run facility. 

The announcement is the latest in a series of blows to Sri Lankans who are already subject to rising inflation, power cuts lasting half a day or more, and shortages of food, medicines and fuel.

Anti-government protests are expected to continue on Tuesday in major cities across the country.

In the past days, demonstrations calling for the resignation of the president have picked up momentum, BBC reported.

Protesters even defied a curfew meant to last from Friday to Sunday in order to halt a planned day of protests, after a demonstration outside the president's house on Thursday night turned violent. 

Sri Lanka is struggling to pay for imports of fuel and other goods because of a shortage of foreign exchange, which has exacerbated its worst economic crisis since independence from the UK in 1948.

The country needs foreign currency to pay for imports of fuel. 

The demonstrations mark a massive turnaround in popularity for Mr Rajapaksa, who swept into power with a majority win in 2019, promising stability and a "strong hand" to rule the country, according to BBC.