Living knowledge of the healing plants: Ethno-phytotherapy in the Chepang communities from the Mid-Hills of Nepal

Contribution of indigenous knowledge in developing more effective drugs with minimum or no side effects helped to realise importance of study of indigenous remedies and the conservation of biological resources. This study analysed indigenous knowledge regarding medicinal plants use among the Chepang communities from ward number 3 and 4 of Shaktikhor Village Development Committee located in the central mid hills of Nepal. Data were collected in a one-year period and included interviews with traditional healers and elders. Chepangs are rich in knowledge regarding use of different plants and were using a total 219 plant parts from 115 species including one mushroom (belonging 55 families) for medicinal uses. Out of these, 75 species had 118 different new medicinal uses and 18 of them were not reported in any previous documents from Nepal as medicinal plants. Spiritual belief, economy and limitation of alternative health facilities were cause of continuity of people's dependency on traditional healers. Change in socio-economic activities not only threatened traditional knowledge but also resource base of the area. Enforcement of local institution in management of forest resources and legitimating traditional knowledge and practices could help to preserve indigenous knowledge

Financial Self-Help Associations among Far West Nepalese Labor Migrants in Delhi, India

Labor migration to India is the most important source of income for people in Far West Nepal. To better understand the effects of labor migration, a research analyzing why and how migrants invest their money in financial self-help organizations was undertaken. Fieldwork was conducted in the communities of origin in Nepal and migrant communities in India. Based on the study, the paper provides an overview of the existing financial self-help associations, their strengths and weaknesses, accessibility and possibilities of benefits and losses for the migrants and their families. The major conclusion is that migration helps to improve income or security but can also undermine a household's financial situation by perpetuating debt and dependency

Development policy, inequity and civil war in Nepal

It is argued that the civil war which erupted in Nepal in the mid 1990s had its seeds sown five decades ago when the country embarked on the economic development plan which placed a heavy emphasis on an urban-based import-substitution strategy. This strategy failed to benefit 86 per cent of the population who live in rural areas and rely on agriculture. This, together with poor governance, significantly increased unemployment, poverty and rural-urban inequality by the mid 1990s, leading to the eruption of civil war. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Gender and anxiety in Nepal: The role of social support, stressful life events, and structural violence

Introduction: Throughout the world, anxiety disorders are 1.5-2 times more prevalent among women than men but the reasons for this gender disparity remain elusive. Despite frequent attribution to cultural roles of men and women, data regarding gendered risk factors in non-Western settings are scant. Aims: This study evaluated the role of gender as a moderator (effect modifier) of stressful life events (SLEs) and social support on the risk of anxiety in Nepal. A cross-sectional random sampling design was employed to recruit 316 persons in a rural community. The participants completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Stressful Life Events Rating Scale (SLERS), and a measure of social support. Results: The prevalence of anxiety differed by gender: 36.9% of women versus 20.4% of men endorsed anxiety symptoms above the validated cutoff for intervention (odds ratio [OR] = 2.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.4-3.8). The number of SLEs and levels of social support did not differ by gender, nor did gender moderate the relationship between SLEs and anxiety. Gender did moderate the relationship of social support with anxiety. Men who reported low social support had 3.5 times greater odds (95% CI = 1.4-10.7) of endorsing anxiety relative to men reporting high social support. Women exhibited no association of anxiety with social support. Conclusion: Women are at a greater risk of anxiety in Nepal. Social support moderates the risk of anxiety among men but not among women. Ethnography and mixed-methods research are needed to identify other forms of support that may be protective for women and such factors should be promoted in gender-focused mental health interventions. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Cross-cultural gene− environment interactions in depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the cortisol awakening response: FKBP5

Despite increased attention to global mental health, psychiatric genetic research has been dominated by studies in high-income countries, especially with populations of European descent. The objective of this study was to assess single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the FKBP5 gene in a population living in South Asia. Among adults in Nepal, depression was assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C), and childhood maltreatment with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). FKBP5 SNPs were genotyped for 682 participants. Cortisol awakening response (CAR) was assessed in a sub-sample of 118 participants over 3 days. The FKBP5 tag-SNP rs9296158 showed a main effect on depressive symptoms (p = 0.03). Interaction of rs9296158 and childhood maltreatment predicted adult depressive symptoms (p = 0.02) but not PTSD. Childhood maltreatment associated with endocrine response in individuals homozygous for the A allele, demonstrated by a negative CAR and overall hypocortisolaemia in the rs9296158 AA genotype and childhood maltreatment group (p < 0.001). This study replicated findings related to FKBP5 and depression but not PTSD. Gene environment studies should take differences in prevalence and cultural significance of phenotypes and exposures into account when interpreting cross-cultural findings