The costs of Suaahara II, a complex scaled-up multisectoral nutrition programme in Nepal.

Limited evidence exists on the costs of scaled-up multisectoral nutrition programmes. Such evidence is crucial to assess intervention value and affordability. Evidence is also lacking on the opportunity costs of implementers and participants engaging in community-level interventions. We help to fill this gap by estimating the full financial and economic costs of the United States Agency for International Development-funded Suaahara II (SII) programme, a scaled-up multisectoral nutrition programme in Nepal (2016-2023). We applied a standardized mixed methods costing approach to estimate total and unit costs over a 3.7-year implementation period. Financial expenditure data from national and subnational levels were combined with economic cost estimates assessed using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with staff, volunteers, community members, and government partners in four representative districts. The average annual total cost was US$908,948 per district, with economic costs accounting for 47% of the costs. The annual unit cost was US$132 per programme participant (mother in the 1000-day period between conception and a child's second birthday) reached. Annual costs ranged from US$152 (mountains) to US$118 (plains) per programme participant. Personnel (63%) were the largest input cost driver, followed by supplies (11%). Community events (29%) and household counselling visits (17%) were the largest activity cost drivers. Volunteer cadres contributed significant time to the programme, with female community health volunteers spending a substantial amount of time (27 h per month) on SII activities. Multisectoral nutrition programmes can be costly, especially when taking into consideration volunteer and participant opportunity costs. This study provides much-needed evidence of the costs of scaled-up multisectoral nutrition programmes for future comparison against benefits.

Possible high risk of transmission of the Nipah virus in South and South East Asia: a review.

Nipah virus (NiV) is a zoonotic, single-stranded RNA virus from the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Henipavirus. NiV is a biosafety-level-4 pathogen that is mostly spread by Pteropus species, which serve as its natural reservoir host. NiV is one of the major public health challenges in South and South East Asia. However, few molecular studies have been conducted to characterise NiV in a specific region. The main objective of this review is to understand the epidemiology, pathogenesis, molecular surveillance, transmission dynamics, genetic diversity, reservoir host, clinical characteristics, and phylogenetics of NiV. South and South East Asian nations have experienced NiV outbreaks. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed that two primary clades of NiV are in circulation. In humans, NiV causes severe respiratory illness and/or deadly encephalitis. NiV is mainly diagnosed by ELISA along with PCR. Therefore, we recommend that the governments of the region support the One Health approach to reducing the risk of zoonotic disease transmission in their respective countries.

Community structure of pollinating insects and its driving factors in different habitats of Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park, Nepal.

Insect pollinators are important means for a stable ecosystem. The habitat types play a crucial role in the community composition, abundance, diversity, and species richness of the pollinators. The present study in Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park explored the species richness and abundances of insect pollinators in four different habitats and different environmental variables in determining the community composition of the pollinators. Data were collected from 1,500 m to 2,700 m using color pan traps and hand sweeping methods. Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) and Redundancy Analysis (RDA) were conducted to show the association between insect pollinators and environmental variables. The results firmly demonstrated that species richness and abundances were higher (158) in Open trail compared to other habitats. The distribution of the pollinator species was more uniform in the Open trail followed by the Grassland. Similarly, a strong positive correlation between flower resources and pollinators' abundance (R2 = .63, P < .001) was found. In conclusion, the Open trail harbors rich insect pollinators in lower elevation. The community structure of the pollinators was strongly influenced by the presence of flowers in the trails.