Sajida Foundation hosts webinar on impact of Covid-19 on low, middle-income countries

Sajida Foundation hosted an important webinar titled "Covid Landscape in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs): Lessons Learnt from Experience and Impact of Covid -19' on recently.

The sessions were live on their Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube pages, reads a press release.

Over the past few years, Covid-19 has had a significant impact worldwide.

While it may appear that the pandemic has subsided, the road to recovery remains testing, particularly for low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The experience of Covid-19 was shared at the webinar in fascinating details from different LMICs.

The webinar was divided in two plenary sessions highlighting the experience, impact and policy implications.

The sessions were chaired by Zarina Nahar Kabir, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences, and Society at Karolinska Institute; and Ahmed Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury, PhD, professor of Population and Family Health at Columbia University and adviser to the James P Grant School of Public Health at Brac University.

Speakers included Ahmed Jojan Nandonik and Asibul Islam Anik from Sajida Foundation; Dr Tanvir Ahmed, fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health, UK; Associate Prof Magen Mutepfa from the University of Botswana; Prof Shamini Prathapan from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, and Prof Indranil Mukhopadhyay from the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, India.

Speakers presented their research findings on the challenges of Covid-19 in LMICs from the perspectives of patients, healthcare providers, and family members, and discussed during and post-pandemic mental and physical health impact, adds the release.

They also showcased findings on LMIC responses to the pandemic and shared lessons to be learned from the experience of a Bangladeshi NGO.

An interesting take away from the sessions was that although challenges faced during pandemic, especially on mental health were quite similar among Botswana, Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh, the contributing factors were quite different.

The pandemic's impact and related restrictions have also raised widespread concerns, particularly with recent evidence showing an increase in mental health problems.

LMICs with weak health systems have still been reported to struggle, and the prevalence of comorbidities has increased the risk of direct and indirect consequences of Covid-19 on populations, including Bangladesh.

It was evident from the webinar that a coordinated effort from different stakeholders from a very early stage is extremely crucial to tackle future pandemic, especially for LMICs.

Sajida Foundation stands among those organisations that have dedicated themselves to the Covid-19 response since its inception, employing various interventions and conducting crucial research, the press release further reads.

One of the studies conducted by Sajida Foundation investigated the changes in socio-economic characteristics of the respondents in post-Covid situation, it was found that nearly half of the respondents reported changes in their income and expenditure. Of them, earnings were reduced for 92% of the participants, while spending rose for 88%. 

On the other hand, 45% of the participants reported at least one mental health-related symptoms of depression, anxiety or stress. 11% respondents reported experiencing any two symptoms simultaneously, whereas 12% reported coexisting symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress at the same time.

Learning from Sajida's experience, a framework has been proposed to prepare for future pandemic like situation.

The framework includes capability assessment, collaboration, compassionate leadership and clear communication.

This framework can be very useful for the policymakers, especially the government of low- and middle-income countries to provide stewardship by collaborating with NGOs for devising a response plan for something like a pandemic.