Supporting Communities: Social and Economic Impacts in Nepal | #2030InSight
Developing countries such as Nepal often rely heavily on the labour and hard-work of their citizens to allow the country to prosper. However, when issues such as blindness occur nationwide, it becomes increasingly difficult for those citizens to seek employment and work towards building a better future.
In many remote areas of Nepal, communities struggle to gain access to necessary healthcare and a well established economic structure. This is where the issues begin.
Many throughout the nation are held responsible for taking care of families, young and elderly. However, when the sole earner of the family becomes sick or suffers with issues such as cataracts, they can no longer support their household, driving the entire family, and sometimes entire communities, into irreversible poverty and crisis.
With the economy of Nepal seemingly suffering, intervention has been quietly taking place for some time. Charities such as the Tej Kohli and Ruit Foundation have cured over 13,000 people across Nepal of blindness, allowing those individuals and communities to have a new lease on life and begin to look forward to better days.
As well as intervention from organisations like the Tej Kohli and Ruit Foundation, discussions are set to occur this week between Nepal and India are also bound to have some influence on the structure of Nepal too. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting Nepal comes two years after the two nations dispute regarding borders in 2020.
Ties with India
In 2020, relations between the two countries were strained after Nepal had claimed previously disputed areas in the Kalpani region as its own. The situation has been claimed to have been resolved via mechanisms that were already set in place between the two nations.
The Monday visit consisted of the signings of six Memorandum of Understandings. These six understandings consisted of multiple areas including education, connectivity and hydropower. The conversations between the two nations are to signify cultural and religious connections rather than economic ones, however, within the discussions of certain pacts regarding hydropower and education, there could be some sort of impact in the way Nepal will function in future.
Taking place in Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha, the signings are planned to have a significant impact on the relationship between India and Nepal. Both leaders are said to have come to various agreements in what was a positive and fruitful conversation.
Necessary Support
Supporting communities and alleviating poverty will assist in overcoming the struggles that are created by curable illness. The secret to prosperity in these counties seems to lie within the direct support of those remote and poverty stricken communities.
With the encouragement of and the support from others, it is clear that it is possible to ensure that Nepal and its various communities are able to succeed and live a healthy and full life.
The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation was founded in March 2021 by London philanthropist Tej Kolhi and Kathmandu ‘God of Sight’ Dr Sanduk Ruit. As of November 2022 the NGO had screened 170,022 patients and cured 22,663of blindness at 91 outreach camps in Nepal, Bhutan and Ghana. The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation is a restricted fund operating under the auspices of Prism The Gift Fund, registered UK charity number 1099682. The Foundation targets the #1 United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of reducing poverty by making large-scale surgical interventions to cure blindness at the grassroots in the developing world. All treatments are provided completely free, with 100% of the funding coming from Tej Kohli and the Kohli family.
