The Female Community Health Volunteers’ Day is celebrated across Nepal on December 5 by organizing various activities in the federal, provincial and local levels. The Day is to recognize around 52,000 Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs), who work as a bridge between the community and the health facilities all over Nepal. They are an integral part of many community-based health programmes, and their roles are instrumental in linking families and communities to community health workers and peripheral level health facilities. Since 1988 FCHVs are working tirelessly to protect the health and welfare of their communities across the country. In addition to their contributions to the health sector, they continue to work for making Nepal a better place for young women and girls.
In coordination with the Ministry of Health and Population, its divisions and District Health Offices as well as with the health authorities in provincial and municipal levels, UNFPA is working with FCHVs in the areas such as capacity building for dissemination of health information/awareness related to sexual and reproductive health, including family planning, in line with the National Health Sector Strategy.
FCHVs are widely acclaimed for their contribution to reducing mortality and improving maternal health in the country as well as in extending coverage of important primary health care programs. Recognition of their efforts and devotion is one of the biggest incentives for FCHVs. UNFPA highly praises the female volunteers for working beyond the call of duty, most often in difficult circumstances, to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted and every childbirth is safe, which is our mission statement.
The DFID-funded UNFPA Nepal Family Planning Project (2016-2020) engages FCHVs, among other several actors, to increase access to family planning services and information for women, in particular those from excluded and marginalized communities. The project is being implemented in Province 1 (Sunsari, Udayapur and Okhaldhunga); Province 2 (Rautahat and Sarlahi); Province 5 (Kapilvastu, Rolpa and East Rukum); Province 6 (West Rukum) and Province 7 (Baitadi).
