To assess the prevalence and factors associated with depression, anxiety and stress among wives of international migrant workers in Ward 5 of Gauradaha municipality, Jhapa, Nepal.

Community-based cross-sectional study.

Ward 5 of Gauradaha Municipality, Jhapa, Nepal.

A total of 179 wives of international migrant workers, aged 20–49 years, whose husbands had been away for at least 6 months.

Depression, anxiety and stress were assessed using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Descriptive statistics, ²/Fisher’s exact test and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed.

The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress was 54.7%, 53.1% and 60.9%, respectively. In multivariable analysis, frequency of remittance, debts incurred and daily communication with husbands were significantly associated with depression, anxiety and stress. Additionally, the wives’ occupation was significantly associated with anxiety.

More than half of the wives of international migrant workers experience depression, anxiety and stress. Interventions promoting financial security, facilitating regular communication with migrant spouses and providing occupation-related support may improve mental health outcomes in this population. These findings highlight the need for targeted policies and community programmes to support families left behind by international migrant workers in Nepal.

Globally, over 2.3 million people die each year as a result of diseases or injuries related to their jobs, and 313 million suffer from non-fatal ailments. Welding is one such profession, which is a hazard-prone job with several potential risks, including burns, electrocution and the potentially deadly risk of fume exposure. In Nepal, people taking the welding profession are aware of the risks associated with their jobs, but they often do not take preventive measures because of ignorance, perceived discomfort in their jobs and lack of knowledge about occupational safety laws and regulations. This increases the probability of accidents.

The objective of this study was to explore occupational health risks and safety awareness among welders and their adherence to occupational safety and health regulations in Nepal.

A qualitative, cross-sectional study employing a thematic analysis approach was adopted.

The research was conducted in small-scale welding workshops located in a semiurban area in Bhaktapur District, central Nepal, reflecting the informal industrial sector.

26 male welders, aged 18–42 years, originally from nine districts across Nepal, participated, each from a different workshop, thus reaching 26 small-scale welding workshops. All were engaged in welding work at the time of the study. Participants were selected using snowball sampling. Most had not completed secondary education and had work experience ranging from 1 to 22 years.

As a qualitative study, the primary outcome was the thematic exploration of welders’ experiences. The main themes included occupational health risks and injury management, personal protective equipment (PPE) use and barriers, access to healthcare and insurance, and awareness of occupational health and safety (OHS) policies and training opportunities.

The study revealed significant occupational health risks, including eye burns, electric shocks and physical exhaustion among the welders. Further, the participating welders reported limited access to health insurance and inadequate awareness and access to PPE. Furthermore, awareness of safety policies is also low among welders. While support groups and associations exist, their support is often insufficient, thus perpetuating challenges in workplace safety.

This study provides a glimpse of the ground reality of welding workers in small-scale industries in Nepal, showing gaps and the need for safe occupational practices that must be addressed. Further study and work are needed to establish better occupational safety practices and improve the health and safety status of welders.

Medical oxygen supplementation is essential for treating severe illnesses and plays a critical role in managing life-threatening conditions, especially during the period of increased demand, such as the delta wave of COVID-19. The study aims to evaluate oxygen requirements and production to support effective capacity planning for future health crises.

Cross-sectional quantitative study. Data collection was carried out between 15 March and 19 December 2021.

The study used secondary data from Nepal’s Health Emergency Operation Centre. Regarding medical oxygen production, calculations included oxygen generated from both hospital-based oxygen plants and private companies, using their highest capacities for comparison. These production capacities were then assessed using three levels of efficiency (100%, 80% and 50%), revealing significant gaps when compared against the oxygen requirements of hospitalised COVID-19 patients, as guided by WHO recommendations. The results were communicated in terms of J-size cylinders, alongside average daily COVID-19 hospitalizations. Data was inputted and analysed using Microsoft Excel and presented in numbers and percentage.

The country’s oxygen demand relies largely on the production from private enterprises, with meeting approximately 85.2% of the total requirement. Optimal production ensures that national oxygen needs will be met. The analysis highlighted that at 80% operational efficiency, 90.8% of the hospital’s requirements could be fulfilled. However, if operational efficiency drops to 50%, the fulfilment rate diminishes to 56.7%. The differences in requirement and production of oxygen are consistent across the provinces; however, a huge disparity was notable in Karnali and Sudurpaschim.

Continuous assessment of production capacities in both hospital and private enterprises producing oxygen is necessary to plan and address the gaps.