Meet Our New(ish) Master’s Student!
Uddhav Khakurel is a master’s student studying International Social Welfare and Health Policy at Oslo Metropolitan University. He has a background in public health with a bachelor’s degree in public health from Nepal and a master’s degree in Global Health with a specialization in epidemiology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Having witnessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Uddhav is committed to understanding the factors influencing the spread of infectious diseases. Udddhav’s interest in this topic reflects his experience of the uneven distribution of the COVID-19 pandemic across different parts of the country.
In addition to his academic pursuits, Uddhav has also gained practical experience working in the field of reproductive health and the rights of women and girls in Nepal with a focus on menstrual health, cervical cancer, and gender-based violence. See previous works below.
As a member of the OsloMet Center for Research on Pandemics & Society (PANSOC), he is working on a project looking at disease spread and mortality among Indigenous people in Alaska during the 1918 influenza pandemic. His work involves digital records of death certificates and the geographic identification of deaths recorded during and around the 1918 influenza pandemic in Alaska.
During his master’s thesis, he will be looking at the spread of the influenza pandemic in Alaska and the role of policies/restrictions and festivals in its distribution.
Previous work:
Publications:
- Suhaila, K., Mukherjee, A., Maharjan, B., Dhakal, A., Lama, M., Junkins, A., Khakurel, U., Jha, A. N., Jolly, P. E., Lhaki, P., & Shrestha, S. (2022). Human Papillomavirus, Related Diseases, and Vaccination: Knowledge and Awareness Among Health Care Students and Professionals in Nepal. Journal of cancer education: the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education, 37(6), 1727-1735.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-021-02018-x - Mukherjee, A., Lama, M., Khakurel, U., Jha, A. N., Ajose, F., Acharya, S., Tymes-Wilbekin, K., Sommer, M., Jolly, P. E., Lhaki, P., & Shrestha, S. (2020). Perception and practices of menstruation restrictions among urban adolescent girls and women in Nepal: a cross-sectional survey. Reproductive health, 17(1), 81. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-020-00935-6
Poster presentation:
- Khakurel, U. (2021, November). Barriers and Facilitators for the Implementation of Cervical Cancer Screening Program in Nepal [Poster presentation]. 34th International Papillomavirus Conference, Virtual.