Kathmandu, Feb. 17 -- azar, a persistent public health challenge in Nepal, is on track to be declared eliminated this year, thanks to a significant drop in new infections in recent years.

Health officials said the new infection rate has fallen to less than one case per 10,000 people, while deaths from the disease have also remained below one percent of those infected over the past two years-a key threshold for elimination.

"If we succeed in maintaining the threshold of infections and deaths this year, we will be eligible to achieve disease elimination status," said Dr Gokarna Dahal, chief of the Vector Control Section at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division under the Department of Health Services. "We have been implementing int...