COVID-19 control measures choking rural, slum dwellers

[内罗毕]实施的措施政府研究人员说，为了控制Covid-19的传播是损害了低收入和中等收入国家的农村社区和城市贫困人口，因此需要减轻其影响。

According to researchers, lockdowns are deepening economic hardships and existing inadequate卫生保健among rural and slum dwellers.

在肯尼亚，一项对100个农村家庭的家庭调查显示，共同19的控制措施导致96％的农村居民失去了收入。

“We believe the effects are likely to be felt by people for some time. In other Sub-Saharan African countries, effects may be similar in countries where similar control measures were imposed,” says Janneke van Oirschot, a research officer at the Netherlands-based Health Action International, which conducted the survey.

“ COVID-19的遏制措施只会使[经济困难和医疗保健不足]更糟，除非采取行动减轻其影响。”

Janneke van Oirschot，国际健康行动

“COVID-19 containment measures will only make [economic hardships and inadequate healthcare] worse unless action is taken to mitigate their impacts,” van Oirschot says, adding that safety measures need to consider economic development and management of other health conditions, improvement of the health systems and provision of universal health coverage to all citizens.

Analysis of the survey results, published last month, shows that the leading causes of household income loss included job losses, loss of business, sales or work activities and delayed or reduced salaries. Nine per cent said market or business closures impacted their incomes.

在另一个学习这是在贫民窟Banglade社区进行sh, Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan researchers say that measures put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19 could worsen existing health inequalities in their slum communities.

Frances Griffiths, the study’s co-author and a professor at the UK-based Warwick Medical School, tellsSciDev.Net那个贫民窟的居民已经被不可靠的water供应，贫民窟社区中厕所和临时住房的供应不佳，并且有危险，即被Covid-19控制限制进一步剥夺了厕所的危险。

由于每个研究国家都施加了与19日相关的锁定，因此研究人员与860名社区领导人互动，以评估COVID-19的措施对贫民窟居民的影响。

格里菲思说：“尽管有些情况下有199例感染，但影响贫民窟中的每个人的原因是对包括锁定在内的Covid-19的反应。”“许多贫民窟的居民白天要上班，由于他们无法旅行去上班，他们无法购买食物。”

“Around 80–85 per cent of the residents are stuck inside the slum with no work or mode of income so poverty is becoming the main problem,” adds a pharmacist from Bangladesh cited in the study. “Therefore, people are more at risk of dying of hunger and poverty at this point than the disease outbreak.”

According to Griffiths, those who fall sick are unable to venture out to seek healthcare at formal public health systems such as hospitals, which are mostly outside the slums. Instead, they resort to, among others, home remedies, medicine vendors and traditional healers due to the disruption in health services.

该研究说，采用移动咨询和提高当地提供商可能是为贫民窟居民提供医疗服务的有效手段。

AMREF Health Africa集团首席执行官Githinji Gitahi表示，尽管非洲国家正在开放以恢复其经济的开放，但Covid-19的大流行病正在对全球范围内的收入和生计构成重大威胁。

“For informal workers who venture out each day to make a living, the pandemic meant a reduced household income at a time when the cost of healthcare was increasing,” Gitahi tellsSciDev.Net。“This is a time for healthpolicymakersto look at the pandemic through several lenses that capture its impact on health,教育，经济机会和社会福祉。”

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.