20 October 2021, NIICE Commentary 7465
Krishna Mani Baral
The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed on January 23, 2020 in Nepal. After this, along with a series of measures like social distancing and others, nationwide lockdown was imposed. During this time, most of the women lost their jobs or had to deal with domestic affairs along with their jobs. The schools were shut down but after 3 months, some private schools started online classes, which were not very effective. According to the official data, till October 21, 2021, out of the total cases, 40.43 percent of women and 2.46 percent of children under 10 suffered from COVID-19.
According to the survey conducted by the Himalayan Climate Initiative in collaboration with the Asia Foundation, that interviewed 401 women and 51 enterprises of Nepal, 41 percent women respondents lost their employment and 88 percent lost wages as a result of the epidemic. Currently, 38 percent of households are without a source of income. The most affected were the lower income women who were working as domestic help or in the service industry. Due to the COVID-19 and the fear of infection, they were refrained from visiting several houses for employment. There are many stories of their hardship and struggle, which are often published by the media reports.
Apart from the women, children were the one who were affected most because during wars and pandemics, they are the one who are most vulnerable. In a country which has 65 percent literacy rate, the digital literacy rate in Nepal is mere 31 percent. Even though the mobile penetration percentage is almost 100 percent, the access and quality of internet is quite low. In Nepal, more than 25 percent live on 50 cents per day. Hence, millions of children could not have access to education during the pandemic because they were not able to afford smart phones, computer, internet and other digital technologies.
Apart from these, they were quite vulnerable in a weak health system. Pregnant Women and children were afraid to go to the hospital for regular checkups and important vaccinations during the time of the outbreak. Many women were forced to give birth to children at home because most of the health centers were primarily focusing on the pandemic. According to the mayor of Birgung Metropolitan City, Vijay Kumar Sarawagi, the health services for women was in devastating situation. Even for the chronic diseases such as breast cancer, uterine prolapse, and others, women were unable to visit the hospital for healthcare.
Along with these, lots of women had to experience physical violence and mental trauma during the pandemic. According to a report of United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), one in five women aged 15-49 experience physical violence. But, these data are far below the reality as most of the violence in Nepal goes un reported. Thus, it clearly indicates how hard the women were hit by the pandemic.
Many working women shared that their workload had increased during the pandemic as they had to do their office work from home in addition to their household tasks. In fact, there much additional burden as their family members and children had to stay, study and work from home. Most of the female frontline healthcare officers, nurses, cleaners, and sweepers, were deeply engaged in taking care of COVID-19 patients, which has put them in intense mental pressure. Their family members often put pressure on them to quit the job as they could get contaminated and spread the infection to their family members and the society. During the 83 days of lockdown in the country, 648 women have been reported to have committed suicide. All this domestic violence and its consequences, had huge impact on the psychology and mental health of the children and other family members.
The pandemic exposed the real situation of our health system and the efficiency of the state. In days to come, the government has to strongly focus on healthcare and education if it wants to fight against the pandemic and prepare itself for such disaster. The countries around the world, including Nepal, put great effort on awareness campaign and educating people about social distancing, washing hands, wearing masks and other precautionary measures to protect themselves from the spread. The people of Nepal should have adopted those measures well in advance seriously to avoid the second wave. In days to come, the government should prepare itself and spread awareness about the mental health. It should collaborate with international donors and agencies to vaccine its people and defeat the pandemic.
Krishna Mani Baral works in the Development Sector in Nepal.
