The U.S. Embassy, in partnership with the Government of Nepal, conducted a Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Morang Birthing Center in Biratnagar, Morang District. Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Nepali built birthing center will be a $1.2 million dollar facility designed to provide much needed maternity services in the area.
The Koshi Zonal Hospital currently has limited capacity and is unable to meet the needs of local citizens. The Morang Birthing Center will increase accessibility to hospital beds for maternity patients within the region. Greater access to maternity services will help decrease infant and adult mortality rates during childbirth as well as improve neonatal and postpartum health services.
“The people of the United States are pleased to enhance access to healthcare services in Nepal through this birthing center. But, even after this center opens its doors and we see more families choosing facility births over home births, it will be critical that we continue to improve the quality of services. This means that we must continue to invest in the health workforce and ensure they it has appropriate in-service training and skills,” said USAID’s Health Development Officer Monica Villanueva.
Those in attendance included representatives from USAID’s health team and U.S. Embassy’s Indo-PACOM Augmentation Team; Honorable Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, Mr. Upendra Yadav; Honorable State Minister of Health and Population, Dr. Surendra Kumar Yadav; and representatives from the Province 1 Government staff, Koshi Zonal Hospital, and Nepal security forces.
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