International

Nepal is a landlocked country in South Asia. It has an under resourced health care system combined with limited infrastructure and mountainous, challenging terrain, which make it even more difficult for patients to reach services.

It has a population of 30 million and an average life expectancy of 70 for men and 72 for women.

The most common causes of premature death are heart disease, lower respiratory infection, neonatal encephalopathy (disturbed neurological function), cerebrovascular disease (variety of medical conditions that affect the blood vessels of the brain) and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) a progressive lung disease.

Alder Hey’s link with Kanti Children’s Hospital in Kathmandu stretch back more than 20 years ago when former Alder Hey manager Carmel Dersh set up the charity ‘So The Child May Live’.

Kanti Children’s hospital is the only government funded paediatric facility in the country. The Hospital has approximately 320 beds and provides neonatal care, general paediatrics, surgery, cardiology and cardiac surgery, oncology and intensive care. There are also paediatric clinics and a paediatric emergency room.