The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and economy of Nepal

Abstract

Nepal experienced a devastating earthquake in 2015, sweeping political changes and restructuring of its healthcare system in the last decade. The economy is heavily dependent on tourism with an average of 1 million visitors per year prior to the pandemic. The country had just begun the ‘Visit Nepal 2020’ campaign when the government had to realign its economic activities and allocate resources to battling the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tourism sector crashed with 18.7% of the population falling into poverty. The health system faced reeling pressure with interruptions of routine services while the government struggled to provide care to COVID-19 patients. There was a shortage of 20,000 healthcare workers and derailment of important health services, such as antenatal care, institutional delivery of babies and tuberculosis diagnosis. To fund the COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the government sought donations and loans from other countries. There were disruptions in schools and the education system which had challenges in the delivery of education through digital means due to limited internet services. The agriculture and the food production system also faced major disruptions leading to exorbitant inflation and an increase in the cost of living. The country opened to normal socio-economic activities by May 2022 in an effort to reverse the impacts on various sectors of life in Nepal. We describe how Nepal, a resource-constrained country handled the COVID-19 pandemic.