Lessons from cholera response in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

The first recorded cholera epidemic in Nepal took place in 1823, followed by a series of epidemics occurring in the Kathmandu Valley in 1831, 1843, 1856, 1862 and 1887. Kathmandu Valley still witnesses cholera and other water borne disease cases almost every year. In 2015 and 2016, cholera cases for the valley was highest with 76 and 150 confirmed cases respectively along is with huge caseload on Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD). WASH Situation of the Valley especially of City Centres comes with lots of challenges owing to the complexities of urban set-up and thus the city centres are the potential hotspots in context to outbreak vulnerabilities. Based on lesson learned in 2016 cholera response, this paper presents a way forward for minimizing the occurrence of cholera and AWD which includes developing a system for cholera prevention and outbreak response.