About the Authors

Krishna Kumar Aryal

Contributed equally to this work with: Krishna Kumar Aryal, Suresh Mehata

krish.aryal@gmail.com

Affiliation Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), Government of Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal

Suresh Mehata

Contributed equally to this work with: Krishna Kumar Aryal, Suresh Mehata

Affiliation Nepal Health Sector Support Programme (NHSSP), Ministry of Health and Population, Government of Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal

Sushhama Neupane

Affiliation Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), Government of Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal

Abhinav Vaidya

Affiliation Kathmandu Medical College, Kathmandu, Nepal

Meghnath Dhimal

Affiliation Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), Government of Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal

Purushottam Dhakal

Affiliation Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), Government of Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal

Sangeeta Rana

Current Address: London Borough of Merton, London, United Kingdom

Affiliation Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), Government of Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal

Chop Lal Bhusal

Affiliation Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal

Guna Raj Lohani

Affiliation Ministry of Health and Population, Government of Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal

Frank Herbert Paulin

Affiliation World Health Organization Country Office, Kathmandu, Nepal

Renu Madanlal Garg

Affiliation World Health Organization Regional Office for South East Asia, New Delhi, India

Regina Guthold

Affiliation World Health Organization Headquarter, Geneva, Switzerland

Melanie Cowan

Affiliation World Health Organization Headquarter, Geneva, Switzerland

Leanne Margaret Riley

Affiliation World Health Organization Headquarter, Geneva, Switzerland

Khem Bahadur Karki

Affiliation Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), Government of Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: KKA SM SN CLB FHP RMG RG. Performed the experiments: KKA SM SN AV CLB. Analyzed the data: KKA SM SN RG MC LMR. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: FHP RMG RG MC LMR. Wrote the paper: KKA SM AV MD PD SR GRL KBK.