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1. Consultation and Planning Meeting:

A workshop meeting regarding the project "Advocacy Initiative to accelerate best-practices Trans-Fat elimination policy in Nepal" was held on 21st of October, 2021 with an objectives of

•  Advocacy    - Interaction with stakeholders

                     - Media promoted advocacy

•  Support      - Technical support in policy briefing

                     - Landscape assessment / situation analysis

• Awareness   - Among people about health hazard of TFA

                     - For need of policy/legislation /Act.

In the meeting, a representatives from the Nepal Health Research Counsil (NHRC), World Health Organization (WHO) country office Nepal, and Department of Food and Technology Quality Control (DFTQC) and few members from NHF were present.  Meeting was organized in two sessions. In the first session, Dr. Matina Joshi, Dr. Lonim Dixit and Mr. Bihumgum Bista along with Ms. Shashi Silwal were present where they explained the current situation of Trans-Fat in Nepal and activities that has been ongoing on Trans-fat project.  They further discussed about the actions required to be taken to limit the usage of Trans-fat.  They later on expressed their interest to work with NHF on Trans-fat project and stated that they would provide necessary support to carry out the Trans-fat Advocacy project.

Second session was held among the NHF participants and officers of Trans-fat Project, where dates for project planning workshop and zoom meeting with NHF branches were fixed. This session was also chaired by Dr. Prakash Raj Regmi.  Amod Pyrakuryal presented a topic " Project planning Stakeholders and policy documents mapping and analysis".  Following this Dr. Baidya presented a paper " Project planning: Advocacy and awareness of Trans-fats elimination policy". A brief discussion was done on the activities of the Trans-fat project and how and when they will be carried out were discussed. Session concluded with closing remarks from the chairperson.

2. Situation Analysis on Trans-fat

A meeting for the Situation Analysis on Trans-fat was conducted on 26th of October at the NHRC premises. A meeting with the NHRC representative Dr. Pradip Gyawali and representative of Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), Dr. Guna Nidhi Shara was carried out.  In the meeting, MOU between NHRC and NHF were discussed along with preliminary discussion for the trans-fat policy briefing was conducted with Dr. Guna Nidhi Sharma.  A data for the Workshop was also fixed where major stakeholder like, MoHP, NHRC, DFTQC representatives will have discussion on Trans-fat policy.

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3. Handover of documents on Trans-fat to Honorable Health Minister

A meeting with Honorable Health Minister Mr. Binod Khatiwada and Health secretary of MoHP Mr. Roshan Pokharel was done.  Dr. Prakash Raj Regmi, Dr. Prem Raj Baiday and Mr. Amod Pyakuryal were present during the meeting and they discussed about the situation of Trans-fat with them.  They further handed over the outline of Trans-fat policy brief which emphasizes the required changes on health policy which would reduce the use of Industrial Trans-fat (ITP).

4. Project Planning Workshop and Policy Briefing Document Drafting meeting

A Project Planning Workshop and Policy Briefing Document Drafting meeting was held on Hotel Himalaya on 31st of October, 2021 from 7 PM to 9 PM.

Participation of senior personnel, including those in leadership positions, with valuable knowledge of plans, policies, research, and activities regarding noncommunicable disease related issues from the Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC), and Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) made the meeting extremely fruitful in providing the project with guidance and information.

 

The meeting was chaired by Mr. Dipendra Purush Dhakal and moderated by Mr. Amod Pyakuryal. The Project Director Dr. Prem Raj Baidhya’s started the meeting by welcoming the participants, and he was followed by Dr. Prakash Raj Regmi’s presentation on the background and the objectives of the Trans-fat Elimination Advocacy project. Dr. Regmi informed the participants of the relevancy and the urgency of the project in addressing non communicable diseases.

 

Mr. Komal Prakash Ghimire enlightened the participants on the current situation of legal provisions (attached), mainly the Food Act 1966 and Consumer Protection Act 2018, that address food safety and quality related matters. Mr. Amod Pyakuryal presented present situation of NCD in Nepal.

Dr. Pradip Gyawali, Chairman of NHRC pointed out that eliminating trans-fat is next to impossible, but legal provisions could be changed to regulate it. Dr. Megh Nath Dhimal of NHRC added that the government is starting to comprehend impact of non-commutable diseases only after 2010. He also shared that NHRC’s latest analysis from 2019 data show that NCD related mortality has climbed to 71% from 66% just two years prior. Dr. Guna Nidhi Sharma of MOHP stated that making quality service and materials available to the public, including consumables, are related to the prevailing act. Various legal provisions, including in the Public Health Act has various clauses that touch upon quality of food items, and this clause could incorporate trans fat specifically as well. The NCD Plan II draft is in being reviewed at the National Planning Commission, and it does include the REPLACE strategy and to reduce industrial transfat to below 2%. It also includes labelling guidelines as well. Dr. Matina Joshi Vaidya, the Director General of DFTQC, said that the government lacks specific guidelines and standards which could lead to Nepal being a dumping ground for inferior quality food.

A discussion session was held after the presentations, where all participants expressed that eliminating ITF would be a tough task in the present context, and regulating, which in itself would get pushback from the industry, would need commitment as well as augmentation of capacities at various levels. It was also agreed that research on various aspects of trans fat and its implication on health has to be an ongoing process. Following the discussions, the chairman closed the meeting by summarizing the day’s presentations and thanking everyone for their participation.

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