BU Research Blog

This month the international journal Global Health Action published our latest paper ‘Strengthening natural hazard preparedness in Nepal: Insights from stakeholder and community engagement‘ [1].  Global Health Action is published by Taylor and Francis. This interdisciplinary paper, with two BU co-authors from two different faculties, John Powell and Edwin van Teijlingen, grew out of a NIHR grant application.  The application was successful in the first round of the application process, but unfortunately, the whole grant scheme was withdraw by the NIHR due to lack of UK Government funding.  The lead author is Dr. Santosh Bhatta from the University of the West of England (UWE).

This paper addresses the important and timely topic of natural hazard preparedness in Nepal through stakeholder and community engagement activities. It provides insights into the implementation gaps between national disaster risk management frameworks and local-level practice, which is highly relevant given Nepal’s federal governance structure and high vulnerability to natural hazards. We engaged with diverse stakeholders including national agencies, local government officials, and community members to gain insights into preparedness challenges from multiple perspectives.
Thus this paper addresses a critical public health challenge in a disaster-prone, resource-limited setting where evidence-based preparedness strategies are urgently needed. Secondly, it offers a multi-level engagement approach—spanning national institutions, municipal governments, and community members—provides a comprehensive view of the disaster preparedness landscape. Thirdly, it highlights practical, actionable gaps such as the need for improved coordination, legal literacy, and early warning systems, which have direct policy implications. Finally, our paper positions this work as formative research to inform future intervention development, which is a valuable contribution to the field.

Reference:

1. Bhatta, S., Mytton, J., Joshi, S.K., Pant, P.R., Adhikary, P., Adhikari, B.R., Gautam, S., Powell, J., van Teijlingen, E. (2026). Strengthening natural hazard preparedness in Nepal: insights from stakeholder and community engagement. Global Health Action, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2026.2692889