98.6pc poor severely influenced by Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemic has severely damaged 98.6 per cent of the poor, who've seen a decline in income, lack of jobs, the closing of shops and business activities and a good complete halt of income, a study finds.
Although the united states is facing economical hardship, just a few respondents of the survey have changed their occupations, which implies that it isn't simple to get new jobs.
The analysis on the 'Impacts of Covid-19 on food-intake and nutrition of the indegent: an instant appraisal' was conducted by the Right to Food Bangladesh, a platform of food security campaigners. Poor persons have also been suffering from insufficient food supply, in line with the study.
Nearly 87 per cent of the poor have already been facing hardship to set up adequate food and nutritious food supplies. Even 5 per cent of the indegent lived using one meal a day through the countrywide shutdown in April and May.
The shortage of food is relatively saturated in Mymensingh and Sylhet compared to other divisions. The nutritional status of the indegent, especially children, women that are pregnant and lactating mothers, reaches stake now.
Half of the indegent received some varieties of assistance -- dry food, cash, or cooked food -- from the federal government or private sector.
"The federal government should expand support to the poor, inspire the private sector to come forward with more related programmes," said Prof Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of the platform.
"During the pandemic, we've noted how important it really is to have a law for ensuring the right to food," said Ahmad, also chairman of the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF).
The principal goal of this quick appraisal was to comprehend the problem of livelihoods, food consumption and the nutritional status of the indegent people living in various parts of Bangladesh consequently of the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.
The study also wanted to explore the awareness status of poor persons amid the health risks of coronavirus. With these objectives, a brief survey was conducted among 834 poor persons from 37 districts, covering all divisions.
Rickshaw and van drivers, scooter and taxi drivers, transport workers, small shopkeepers, road or pavement vendors, barbers, beauty parlour workers, garbage collectors, part-time housemaids, workers in small workshops, street vendors, individual or commercial drivers, freight workers, carpenters, e-commerce delivery workers and agricultural personnel were contained in the study.
Many of these personnel mostly receives a commission daily, so they survive one day at the same time. The survey also included some respondents from jobless people like beggars, street children and physically challenged people.
To control the spread of coronavirus, the government announced an over-all holiday of all economic and social activities in late March and it continued for more than a month.
Although businesses opened on a limited scale in early May, the economic activities have remained at a sub-optimal level, in line with the study.
Those who changed the occupation have mostly become day labourers and agricultural labourers since it is relatively easy to begin working with. About 70 % took these new occupations for survival.
However, the agriculture personnel could actually manage works during the pandemic as the period of general holiday was the harvesting time of boro, the major rice crop of Bangladesh.
The coronavirus-induced livelihood losses have caused harm to the income of poor people, said Nazneen Ahmed, senior research fellow of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, who led the analysis.
"As these persons have minimal savings or no savings at all, a downturn within their income will have extended negative impacts on the food intake and nutritional status."
Because the outbreak of the epidemic, both government and private sector persons have come forward with various types of help for the indegent and vulnerable, she said.
Such programmes include the distribution of cash, food and cooked food, she said.
It is noted that in the pre-pandemic situation, 91.6 % of the respondents used to take three meals a day, and the remaining used to take two meals a day.
Though almost all of the respondents used to have three meals a day, through the general holiday, 95 % to 100 % of the respondents of different divisions faced problems to keep three meals a day.
In all divisions, poor persons mainly suffered from a shortage of enough food and a extreme insufficient nutritious food. Nearly 87 % of poor persons faced hardship to manage adequate food, the study also found.
The indegent in Rangpur region suffered the most from the meals crisis, and Rajshahi region suffered the most from the nutritious food crisis.
Low-income families are in the meals supply problem, which has exposed their own families to nutritional and health threats.
In the last 90 days, the health risks of Covid-19 could possibly be minimised by maintaining social distance, wearing masks and following some basic hygiene in the home and outside.
It was found that all respondents of the study knew about the coronavirus.
The study recommended that various government initiatives to aid the poor should be made available to the indegent people in urgent need of food.
The transfers of money, including various social protection benefits, ought to be sent regularly to the beneficiaries through mobile financial services.
In addition, it suggested ensuring supply of nutritional food for children.
Various stimulus packages announced by the government for micro, small and medium enterprises and informal sector enterprises ought to be implemented immediately. This might ensure livelihood opportunities for most poor people employed in these enterprises.
