Prevalence Survey of Arsenicosis in Kailali and Bardiya Districts of Nepal

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Arsenic has been known for years to be a very poisonous element and arsenicosis is one of the burning issues in Nepal today. In lowlands of Nepal, the Arsenic concentration in the pumped "drinking" water have shown to be of such a magnitude that the population in these a...

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Main Authors:	Adhikari, Shyam Prasad, Chhetri, Madhu Kumar Khadaka
Format:	Technical Report
Language:	en_US
Published:	Nepal Health Research Council 2012
Subjects:	Arsenicosis
Online Access:	http://103.69.126.140:8080/handle/123456789/329
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spelling	oai:103.69.126.140:123456789-3292022-11-09T05:24:07Z Prevalence Survey of Arsenicosis in Kailali and Bardiya Districts of Nepal Adhikari, Shyam Prasad Chhetri, Madhu Kumar Khadaka Arsenicosis EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Arsenic has been known for years to be a very poisonous element and arsenicosis is one of the burning issues in Nepal today. In lowlands of Nepal, the Arsenic concentration in the pumped "drinking" water have shown to be of such a magnitude that the population in these areas, by switching from surface water to groundwater, can be said to have come from the frying-pan into the fire. Kailali and Bardiya districts are most affected districts of western Terai where majority of residence are from Tharu community and have little or no knowledge on arsenic, its poisoning and possible mitigation measures. Unfortunately, research activities on prevalence of arsenicosis and awareness raising and mitigation activities are lacking in these areas. Hence, it was imperative to explore current status on prevalence of arsenicosis to undertake relevant actions to minimize, if possible alleviate, arsenicosis impacts. This study, therefore, was conducted to find outthe prevalence of arsenicosis and its association with other socio-economic factors among the risk population in the different communities of Thapapur and Sadepani VDCs of Kailali district and Mohamadpur and Jamuni VDCs of Bardiya district. This comprehensive project adopted questionnaire survey and examination of skin laison by the experts using WHO flow chart algorithm as its major study methods. Key findings of the study illustrate that (a) the impact of arsenic problem in study area is significant with the overall prevalence of arsenicosis as 2.12% in Kailali district and 2.66% in Bardiya district; (b) Gender has apparent effect on the prevalence of arsenicosis indicating much higher symptoms among males than in females; (c)The people from older age group are affected significantly to a far greater extent than people from younger age group and a virtually negligible prevalence among those less than 15 years old; and (d) The people from poor socioeconomic group are affected significantly to a far greater extent than people from non-poor socioeconomic group. Since major causes of arsenicosis problem are poverty, illiteracy and lack of mitigating and monitoring measures, arsenic mitigation programmes should target the arsenic exposed malnourished poor population as a priority. Moreover, it is hoped that the result of this project will assist the concern authorities of Government of Nepal in formulating effective management plans for the mitigation of arsenicosis. Nepal Health Research Council 2012-12-31T22:21:21Z 2022-11-08T10:14:22Z 2012-12-31T22:21:21Z 2022-11-08T10:14:22Z 2008 Technical Report http://103.69.126.140:8080/handle/123456789/329 en_US application/pdf Nepal Health Research Council
institution	My University
collection	DSpace
language	en_US
topic	Arsenicosis
spellingShingle	Arsenicosis Adhikari, Shyam Prasad Chhetri, Madhu Kumar Khadaka Prevalence Survey of Arsenicosis in Kailali and Bardiya Districts of Nepal
description	EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Arsenic has been known for years to be a very poisonous element and arsenicosis is one of the burning issues in Nepal today. In lowlands of Nepal, the Arsenic concentration in the pumped "drinking" water have shown to be of such a magnitude that the population in these areas, by switching from surface water to groundwater, can be said to have come from the frying-pan into the fire. Kailali and Bardiya districts are most affected districts of western Terai where majority of residence are from Tharu community and have little or no knowledge on arsenic, its poisoning and possible mitigation measures. Unfortunately, research activities on prevalence of arsenicosis and awareness raising and mitigation activities are lacking in these areas. Hence, it was imperative to explore current status on prevalence of arsenicosis to undertake relevant actions to minimize, if possible alleviate, arsenicosis impacts. This study, therefore, was conducted to find outthe prevalence of arsenicosis and its association with other socio-economic factors among the risk population in the different communities of Thapapur and Sadepani VDCs of Kailali district and Mohamadpur and Jamuni VDCs of Bardiya district. This comprehensive project adopted questionnaire survey and examination of skin laison by the experts using WHO flow chart algorithm as its major study methods. Key findings of the study illustrate that (a) the impact of arsenic problem in study area is significant with the overall prevalence of arsenicosis as 2.12% in Kailali district and 2.66% in Bardiya district; (b) Gender has apparent effect on the prevalence of arsenicosis indicating much higher symptoms among males than in females; (c)The people from older age group are affected significantly to a far greater extent than people from younger age group and a virtually negligible prevalence among those less than 15 years old; and (d) The people from poor socioeconomic group are affected significantly to a far greater extent than people from non-poor socioeconomic group. Since major causes of arsenicosis problem are poverty, illiteracy and lack of mitigating and monitoring measures, arsenic mitigation programmes should target the arsenic exposed malnourished poor population as a priority. Moreover, it is hoped that the result of this project will assist the concern authorities of Government of Nepal in formulating effective management plans for the mitigation of arsenicosis.
format	Technical Report
author	Adhikari, Shyam Prasad Chhetri, Madhu Kumar Khadaka
author_facet	Adhikari, Shyam Prasad Chhetri, Madhu Kumar Khadaka
author_sort	Adhikari, Shyam Prasad
title	Prevalence Survey of Arsenicosis in Kailali and Bardiya Districts of Nepal
title_short	Prevalence Survey of Arsenicosis in Kailali and Bardiya Districts of Nepal
title_full	Prevalence Survey of Arsenicosis in Kailali and Bardiya Districts of Nepal
title_fullStr	Prevalence Survey of Arsenicosis in Kailali and Bardiya Districts of Nepal
title_full_unstemmed	Prevalence Survey of Arsenicosis in Kailali and Bardiya Districts of Nepal
title_sort	prevalence survey of arsenicosis in kailali and bardiya districts of nepal
publisher	Nepal Health Research Council
publishDate	2012
url	http://103.69.126.140:8080/handle/123456789/329
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Prevalence Survey of Arsenicosis in Kailali and Bardiya Districts of Nepal

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