The enrollment in Health Insurance (HI) is considered as a sustainable way of financing for health and preparedness for catastrophic health care cost during receiving health services. Various socio-demographic factors are still unanswered regarding their influence. A study aiming to assess the factors associated with the enrollment of HI was conducted in 2018 in two districts of Nepal namely Kailali and Baglung. The study was cross-sectional covering 810 (405 enrolled and 405 not-enrolled) randomly selected households (HH). Socio-demographic variables were considered as independent variables and enrollment in HI as dependent variable. An interview schedule was used as a tool for data collection. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to analyze the data. The data show that various socio-demographic characteristics are associated with the enrollment of HI. A significant statistical difference is seen between enrollment to HI and HH headship, age group of respondents, ability to feed the family, presence of chronic diseases in family, knowledge on HI, willingness to pay (WTP) for HI, having HI guidelines or books, participation in HI related training, interactions with neighbours, access to communication media: the radio/FM and TV, hoarding boards (HB), newspapers, posters/pamphlets/brochures; and access to health facilities. The results further show that female heads appear more likely to enroll (aOR = 1.47) in HI than the male. HH headship of the respondents also seem more likely to enroll. Higher age respondents are less likely to enroll. Interestingly, literate respondents and joint families are less likely to enroll than illiterate and nuclear families respectively. However, respondents having knowledge in HI seem more likely to enroll (aOR = 28.97, p1.673, p

The Government of Nepal (GoN) has approved the Malaria Strategic Plan with the aim of 'Malaria free Nepal by 2025'. This study aimed to determine the factors associated with the mosquito bed nets and its determinants of the ownership with reference to the households' wealth status in Nepal. The study used the secondary data from the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2016. The households' characteristics were considered independent variables and ownership of the mosquito nets as the dependent variable. We used IBM SPSS Statistics 22 to analyse the data. The data showed that three fourths of the total households had such nets, where 80 percent were urban households as compared to 68 percent rural households, 95 percent from the Terai region of Nepal as compared to 34 percent from the mountain region, 91 percent were of middle income, as compared to 39 percent the poorest wealth status of households, 84 percent of households that had TV as compared to 66 percent of the households with no TV used the nets. The poorest households were 52 percent less likely to own the nets as compared to the richest households (a OR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.39-0.60, p<0.001). The wealth status of households, residence setting in terms of urban or rural area, and eco-belt migration history of the households, and households having radio and TV were significant predictors for the nets ownership. Special attention was paid by the government and policymakers to the poorest families, rural households, households in the mountain region of Nepal, and households having no radio and TV to meet the national target of the government plan with the use of public health promotion planning and intervention.

The Government of Nepal has introduced a health insurance programme since 2016. The main essence of the program is to reduce the gap in the utilization of health services between poor and rich, to reduce the out-of pocket expenditure while receiving the healthcare services, and to protect the family from poverty due to catastrophic healthcare expenditure. Researchers review the policy, programme and existing practice Data from Health Insurance Board shows that the programme appears not so effective in many districts but it looks successful in some districts where private healthcare providers are existing as a referral hospital. It is still unanswered whether the HIP is going to boost industrialists in the name of basic rights, health equity and social justice. The paper studies socio-economic and political perspectives of healthcare and health insurance with reference to Nepal and concludes that the healthcare system needs to reform for real welfare, social justice, and citizens' access and right to healthcare.