Roll It Back

ONCE thought to have gone the way of dodo, malaria has made quite a manifest comeback. It was thanks to the eradication of this dreaded disease in the sixties in the plains that Nepalese could turn Terai into the granary of the country. With intensive anti-malaria campaign through the Terai strip, these plains became habitable and people from the hills up north moved down to live and farm there. The single-most factor in populating the Terai is none other than the success in malaria eradication and control. Large-scale malaria cases, it appeared, was generally consigned to the pages of history. Indeed, malaria eradication campaigns were successful in countries around the globe.

Considerable surprise, therefore, greeted the comeback of malaria some years ago. The battle, it became clear, was far from won. Malaria made a global return and Nepal too was not spared. Since the last six years, more and more cases of malaria are being detected in Nepal. Cases of malaria has been detected in 64 districts, with 12 of them badly affected. According to an estimate, a whopping 16 per cent of the Nepalese are believed to be vulnerable to the disease. Some 47,000 persons with malaria symptoms visited hospitals in 1999. The foregoing sets of figures are more than sufficient to underline that the disease has indeed come to haunt Nepal again. It also underscores the fact that Nepal’s poor health service system, already grappling with a swarm of other communicable diseases, is now having to carry the burden of malaria also. Representatives from education, health, forest and communication sectors and donor agencies discussed the issue the other day to formulate a strategy to scale down both the mortality rate of the people suffering from malaria and the number of malaria patients. The national task force on rolling back malaria is entrusted with the job of wrestling with this new challenge to Nepal’s health care system. Evidently, the disease needs to be attacked from different sides. While the government health agencies in the districts have to be intensively engaged in measures like regular anti-mosquito spraying, awareness towards simple measures like usage of mosquito nets have to be generated among the general populace. Though it may be some time before the disease can be effectively controlled with the galloping population and the climate change in favour of malaria-causing mosquitoes, there is no reason why it cannot be contained to a large extent if extra, coordinated efforts are undertaken.

Issuing International License

A NEWS story has it that despite acquiring membership of International Automobile Association for more than a decade, Nepal has not been able to utilise the benefit the membership provides. Members of the International Automobile Association can issue international driving licenses, which are valid all over the world. But Nepal, so far, has not utilised this privilege. If Nepal issues international driving licenses, many Nepalese people will save themselves from the hassles of doing things all over again when they travel abroad. People in several countries have been utilising these facilities. Now at least, the Valley Traffic Police Office (VTPO) is mulling over to start issuing international driving licenses so that Nepalese people do not have to obtain another driving license when they are in a foreign land. As per the plan of VTPO, which is responsible for issuing driving licenses, international driving licenses would be given to those who already have a national license, a valid passport and visa. Such license would be valid for the period until one’s visa expires. So far Nepalese who travel abroad have had to obtain such license in the foreign land. As the process is often difficult and takes longer time,. Nepalese, in most of the cases, choose not to go for driving license. If international driving license were given in Nepal, Nepalese would be relieved of the hassles and difficulties abroad due to the absence of driving license. But one thing that needs to be given specific attention is the quality factor. There are complaints that some of those who cannot drive have obtained the driving license but others who have the necessary driving skill are sometimes denied license. If these claims and complaints are at all true, the police should review its system of awarding license.

In recent years, traffic accidents have risen in Nepal. The rise in such accidents is partly because of the inexperienced and unqualified drivers, although there are several factors including the road condition and state of vehicles which also have to be taken into consideration. The trend needs to be corrected for the good of the common people. When issuing international driving license, there should be, by no means, a compromise in quality. Quality also reflects the image of the nation—good or bad. Thus, the idea of issuing international license is, no doubt, a very positive move in order to ease the problems of the Nepalese people abroad when it comes to driving. This idea, thus, needs to be implemented as early as possible. At the same time, the police should take extra caution to make sure that the right and deserving people alone will get their driving license.