Team comprising International Development Minister of Norway visits MSI Centre

KATHMANDU: International Development Minister of Norway, Anne Beate Tvinnerreim, Norwegian Ambassador to Nepal, Torum Dramdal, senior staff and diplomats from the Norwegian Embassy and delegates from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs visited MSI Centre run by Marie Stopes International (MSI) Nepal at Putalisadak.

On the occasion, Senior Advisor of MSI Nepal, Dr KP Upadhayay, and Executive Director Tushar Niraula briefed about the MSI’s service and activities in sexual and reproductive health and rights sectors in Nepal.

They also shared about transformative impact of the Norwegian government’s long-standing support for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and the importance of continued funding to sustain the achievements made.

Since 2014, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, Norad, has been funding MSI to provide contraception and medical abortion to women in some of the most difficult to reach, remote areas of Nepal.

There is a situation to community-based midwives, known as MSI Ladies sometimes walk for six to eight hours to reach women who would otherwise have no other access. Keeping this situation in mind, MSI has been running programmes related to sexual and reproductive health service in community level.

During the visit, the Norwegian delegation had an opportunity to meet with team members and adolescent clients, who described how access to reproductive health and choice has supported them to change their life for the better.

Extending gratitude towards the government of Norway towards its support, MSI Nepal’s Sunaulo Parivar Nepal Executive Director, Tushar Niroula, said, “Reproductive choice is fundamental to the ability to realise a host of other rights, including the right to an education, the right to bodily autonomy, and the right to choose own pathways in life. We were delighted to share first-hand the transformative impact that Norwegian aid is having on the health, lives and futures of women and girls in Nepal.”

Similarly, Norwegian Minister for International Development, Tvinnerreim, opined, ““MSI Nepal has and continues to make impressive and important contributions to delivering safe sexual and reproductive health services in Nepal. I would like to express sincere appreciation for MSI Nepal’s activities in the field of sexual and reproductive health and its ability to serve marginalized communities in remote areas in innovative ways.”