The 35th Bi-annual meeting held October 26-27,2024 served as the team’s refreshment meet-up, with annual activity review, discussion, and suggestions on challenges, as well as refresher trainings for skill enhancement.
PHASE Nepal team
PHASE Nepal board members, guests from partner organizations, PHASE health advisor, Dr. Gerda Pohl, Chair of Independent Living Centre, Mr. Bhoj Raj Shrestha, Consultant Medical Oncologist of Kathmandu Cancer Centre, Dr. Rajani Jha and PHASE staff (includes project area-based staff) attended the meeting in German Homes Hospitality.
During the event, PHASE staff working in Mugu, Humla, Bajura, Sindhupalchok, and Gorkha districts shared their accomplishments, issues and challenges and suggested activities for future. The workshop/training took on a more interactive format, with the team being praised for their work in Nepal’s remote areas, as well as organizational procedures being addressed and suggestions for solutions to the issues they faced.
Dr. Gerda Phol, Health Advisor of PHASE Nepal conducted an informative session on stroke, head and spinal injuries, and bowel obstruction, covering key aspects such as signs and symptoms, warning indicators, recommended actions, and appropriate treatments. Her presentation was particularly focused on providing care in low-resource settings, like those where PHASE Nepal operates. The session was highly interactive and included a demonstration of the logroll position, an essential technique for managing spinal injury patients, which was performed by PHASE Nepal’s clinical health workers.
Dr. Rajani Jha, an oncologist, from Kathmandu center for Cancer, conducted a session on cancer awareness for the PHASE Nepal staff. In this session she shared the information about major symptoms of cancer and its treatment procedure and given brief insight into the most prevalent cancer globally and in Nepal. She emphasized breast cancer and cervix cancer as two most common cancer among women in Nepal, further discussing their causes, symptoms and treatment protocol available in Nepal. Finally, she ended the session saying, “Cancer is curable if detected early” encouraging everyone to “Get screened, Get vaccinated”
Bhojraj Shrestha, Chairperson of Independent Living. He provided a comprehensive overview of disability, discussing the meaning and types of disabilities. He also explained the concept of intellectual disability and used examples of Einstein and Socrates to illustrate that intellectual challenges do not diminish one’s value or potential. He explained four categories based on disability severity. Each category qualifies for
different government services, including incentives, land ownership, and scholarships,
Similarly, the various team members delivered practical sessions on important themes such as child protection and safeguarding, vulnerable adult protection and case study which are useful for the team to conduct community based activities more efficiently.