Kathmandu, July 15- The Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN) organised an integrated reproductive health camp targeted to the people of Melamchi Municipality in Sindhupalchok district hit hardest by flooding. At the health camp, services like tests for cervical cancer, HIV tests and counseling for pregnant women and against violence against women took place, said programme director of the FPAN, Subas Shrestha. Over 300 women availed health services from the camp, he said.

There are around 1,000 pregnant women at the municipality and Helambu Rural Municipality and they need health services at the earliest, he said. On the occasion, the FPAN distributed contraceptives and dignity kits. Programme officer Shrestha handed the materials to the municipality mayor Dambar Bahadur Aryal. Meanwhile, the FPAN has continued to provide its services even during the COVID-19 pandemic by following the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.

It has been providing the services from its clinics loacted at various places of the country. It said it had provided the services to 3.3 million people in 2020 which is only 15 per cent less compared to the people served in 2019 when there was no COVID-19. FPAN has been providing free services to the excluded and marginalised groups, the geneder minorities, women sex workers, people with HIV/AIDS and the disabled persons.Around 90 per cent of the FPAN’s beneficieries are those who do not have access and among them 30 per cent are adolescents. (RSS)