Health TV Online\Kathmandu :  Renowned health journalist Kalpana Acharya has been awarded the prestigious Health Minister Bloomberg Public Health Award 2025 by the Government of Nepal, in recognition of her unwavering dedication to public health journalism, especially in tobacco control advocacy. Acharya, who serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Health TV Online Nepal and hosts the widely acclaimed Health First Podcast, was among four journalists and three public health activists honored during a special event organized to mark World No Tobacco Day in Kathmandu on Saturday.

The event, hosted jointly by the Ministry of Health and Population and the National Health Education, Information and Communication Center (NHEICC), saw Health Minister Pradeep Paudel confer a cash prize of NPR 50,000 and citations to all seven awardees. Acharya was recognized for her relentless journalism and editorial contributions that have helped shape Nepal’s national discourse on tobacco control since the enactment of the Tobacco Products (Control and Regulation) Act 2068 (2011).

In addition to her national recognition, Acharya was also recently honored on the global stage. At a side event of the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva, she won 3rd Prize in the global SHE & Rights Media Awards, presented by the Global Center for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI) and the Citizen News Service (CNS). The award recognizes her consistent and gender-sensitive reporting on sexual and reproductive health, equity, and human rights between September 2024 and March 2025.

For over two decades, Kalpana Acharya has remained at the forefront of health journalism in Nepal, using her platform to push for accountability in public health governance and raise awareness on critical health issues including tobacco-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs), gender equity, and sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR). Through powerful editorials, investigations, and multimedia storytelling, Acharya has helped frame public health as a human rights issue in Nepali media.

Acharya is among the founding board members of the Asia Pacific Media Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT Media) and serves as the South-East Asia Regional Chair of the Global AMR Media Alliance (GAMA), a global network of journalists advocating for responsible antimicrobial use and awareness.

As Nepal’s only woman-led bilingual multimedia news portal focused on health, Health TV Online under Acharya’s leadership has become a trusted source for millions. Her Health First Podcast attracts over a million viewers per episode and is credited with demystifying complex health issues for the general public while also holding authorities accountable.

These latest honors add to Acharya’s growing list of accolades, underscoring the impact of her journalistic integrity, editorial vision, and unrelenting commitment to public health and social justice in Nepal and beyond.