User:Durgapbhandari

Dr. Durga Prasad Bhandari is a Medical Doctor with public health specialty with 18 years of experience in clinical medicine and public health. His first exposure to HIV patient was in 1996-98 as clinician during his tenure in Patan Hospital. Patan Hospial was the only hospital receiving AIDS patients in Kathmandu valley during those years and they were admitted mainly for terminal care. Dr. Bhandari received training on STI case management in November, 2001 organized by AMDA with support of FHI, this training became a milestone for start of his carrier in HIV. After the training, he participated in HIV prevention activities of Bhutanese refugees as a part of Primary Health Care Project for Bhutanese Refugees under AMDA Nepal with support of UNHCR; it included management of sexually transmitted infection and awareness raising activities in the refugee camps. Dr. Bhandari joined FHI (then Family Health International) Nepal Country Office in August 2006 and worked successfully till February 2011 as technical Unit Head of the ASHA Project. Dr. Bhandari joined WHO in April 2011 as Medical Officer (TIP) HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh His achievements range from developments of Standard Operating Procedures for FHI Nepal to development of National Guidelines and National Training Curricula - STI Case Management, HIV Counseling and Testing, and Clinical Management of HIV. Dr. Bhandari with his technical expertise and good relationship building was able to become a respected expert of HIV in the country. Dr. Bhandari independently developed National ART Guidelines for Bangladesh in 2011. In Myanmar, Dr. Bhandari supported NAP for writing proposal to GFATM, provided support for conducting STI prevalence survey among Female Sex Workers (FSW) and Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) and for protocol development for mapping and size estimation of people who inject Drugs (PWID). Dr. Bhandari completed his MPH degree with first class first position in 2005 from Tribhuvan University Nepal. He also completed Diploma in STDs/AIDS from Consortium of Thai Training Institutes for STDs and AIDS (COTTISA) with outstanding award in 2008.