The newly appointed Prime Minister of Nepal, K.P Sharma Oli, met with PSI affiliate, the Nepal Health Volunteers’ Association ( NEVA), one month after his appointment, and accepted the Community Health Workers Charter of Demands.  The meeting took place at the Prime Minister’s residence in capital Kathmandu on 16 August 2024.

NEVA’s President, Sister Gita Devi Thing Paudel, and other delegates from NEVA handed the charter of demands, titled “Community Health Work is Work” to the Prime Minister demanding that Community Health Workers, known as Female Community Health Volunteers in Nepal, be recognised as workers, registered in the Social Security Scheme of Nepal, engaged in all decision making and policy development  committees relating to primary health care, provided all appropriate occupation health and safety support and equipment, enjoy the working conditions as other public health workers including communications allowance, festival allowance, and retirement benefits.  

Prime Minister Oli said he will discuss the demands with the relevant Ministries and take steps to advance them, starting with the registration of CHWs in the Social Security Scheme of Nepal in the coming fiscal year budget.

Sister Gita said this was a giant step forward for CHWs in Nepal. “The Prime Minister recognised the value of our work, and the sacrifices CHWs have made to improve health for the most marginalised communities in Nepal. We are very proud that he accepted the joint Charter of Demands and promised to support us. If we are registered in the Social Security Scheme of Nepal, we will be taking a giant step to fulfilling the demand to have Community Health Work recognised as Work”.

Last year the Health Minister of Bagmati Province had also accepted PSI’s Charter of Demands and announced that free health insurance would be provided to CHWs and their family. Earlier this year the Federal Government stopped free health insurance for CHWs, so the need for health insurance was on top of the agenda when NEVA met the Prime Minister.

This important development comes after seven years of campaigning with the support of PSI. CHW unions from across India, Pakistan and Nepal developed a joint Charter of Demands during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then released their general Charter of Demands in 2023.

Since then President Gita and Basanti Maharajan, the President of another CHW union, HEVON, attended the International Labour Conference of the International Labour Organisation to raise the plight of CHWs during the General Discussion on Care, where they secured important commitments in the outcome document. Both unions went to Pakistan to meet with PSI affiliates who led the successful struggle to have CHWs recognised as public health workers, not volunteers.

“The struggle to have Community Health Workers across South Asia and the Philippines recognised as workers, entitled to Decent Work, is unstoppable” said Kate Lappin, PSI’s Asia Pacific Regional Secretary. “Having the new Prime Minister of Nepal prioritise this meeting and make commitments in his first month, is a result of the determination and organising power of our affiliates. Our affiliates have been leading this campaign across the region for more than a decade, and they are winning. This is a win for health workers, for gender equality and for quality public health.”