Next come diseases

We should proactively allocate human, infrastructural and budgetary resources to combat monsoon-time maladies.

As much as we love the monsoon for its greenery and promise of a bountiful harvest, we dread floods, landslides and diseases. As in years past, disasters have wreaked havoc in several parts of Nepal this year too, leading to at least 70 deaths since June. Adding to the woes are vector- and water-borne diseases, such as viral fever, diarrhoea, dysentery, food poisoning, typhoid, dengue and kala-azar, turning the season into a time of epidemics. The Epidemiology and Disease Control Division has already warned doctors and the public of possible uptick in incidents of these diseases.