Vaccines, vaccines, vaccines. This is what I’m talking and reading about these days when the subject is Covid-19. I’ve had my jab, and so has my wife, but my daughter, who’s under 18, has not, because Nepal hasn’t offered them to that age group yet, but she still has to go to school this week to take exams. My parents in Canada, who are over 80, have had two jabs, and now they’re talking about a booster shot. And on it goes.
But here in Nepal only 20% of people are fully vaccinated and 22% partly vaccinated. More doses are reportedly on the way, and this week’s news that neighbouring India will start exporting vaccines in October is encouraging, but it’s going to be months, at least, before the population approaches a vaccination rate where we can start to relax.
In the meantime, masks are the answer. Today we’re speaking with Preeti Adhikary of the NORMmask project. You may have heard about its work in Bangladesh, where it was launched in 2020. The project is now also rolling out in Pakistan, India and Latin America.
One note: in one of my questions today you’ll hear me refer to the results from Bangladesh as a 300% increase in mask wearing. In fact, the rise was three-fold, which I assumed was the same as 300% but is actually 200%. Now you know why I chose to study liberal arts after graduating high school….
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Resources
NORM website
Covid-19 Rapid Action Taskforce Nepal
Nepal Now social links
Thanks as always to Nikunja Nepal for advice and inspiration.
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Thank you to the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters of Nepal and Himal Media for use of their studios.