The Charge d’Affaires a.i. of Japan to Nepal, Mr. Yuzo Yoshioka, has signed two separate grant contracts today under the Government of Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP) which aims to enhance the wellbeing of people at the grassroots level and contribute to improvements in the areas of education, health and infrastructure thus reflecting the Japanese Government’s commitment to uphold the concept of human security.
Yuzo signed a grant agreement to support the construction of a hostel for visually impaired women in the Kageshwori Manohara Municipality in the Kathmandu district. The agreement was signed between the Embassy of Japan and Ramesh Pokharel, President of the Nepal Association of the Blind, a Nepalese Non-Governmental Organization. Stating that the project would enhance women’s education, Yuzo hoped that the hostel would provide a place where blind female students could live safely. The grant assistance amounts to US$95,740.
The Nepal Association of the Blind operates a hostel for blind female students who come to Kathmandu from remote parts of Nepal in search of better education opportunities. Regrettably, the existing hostel cannot accommodate every student, and therefore this support is expected to assist more blind women by increasing access to education for them.
At the same time, Yuzo signed a US$154,100 grant agreement with Dr. Chet Raj Pant, Chairperson of Nepal Netra Jyoti Sangh (NNJS), for the installation of medical equipment for the treatment of patients with diabetic retinopathy at the Kirtipur Eye Hospital in Kathmandu. The project will support the installation of medical equipment including a green laser, slit lamp adapter, slit lamp, laser lens, retina laser lens, non-contact tonometer (NCT), and optical coherence tomography (OCT) for the investigation and laser therapy of diabetic retinopathy.
At the virtual grant signing ceremony, Yuzo stated that the assistance would contribute towards enhancing hospital services for patients with diabetic retinopathy. NNJS established, in 1978, has operated the Kirtipur Eye Hospital since 2017. The hospital offers medical eye services and organizes regular eye screening camps in suburban and remote areas across the country. It is believed that the project will contribute towards improving medical services for patients with diabetic retinopathy, particularly with early diagnosis and the prevention of eyesight deterioration.
A study carried out by Gurung et al (2017) for the Austin Publishing Group states that blindness and visual impairment are a major public health problem in the mountainous regions of Nepal with females in the older age group and illiterate people being at particularly high risk. The study recommended that blindness could be reduced threefold through education and the creation of awareness of eye health services and by making these services accessible and available.
