Mental Distress and Human Rights Violations During COVID-19: A Rapid Review of the Evidence Informing Rights, Mental Health Needs, and Public Policy Around Vulnerable Populations

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 prevention and mitigation efforts were abrupt and challenging for most countries with the protracted lockdown straining socioeconomic activities. Marginalized groups and individuals are particularly vulnerable to adverse effects of the pandemic such as human rights abuses and violations which can lead to psychological distress. In this review, we focus on mental distress and disturbances that have emanated due to human rights restrictions and violations amidst the pandemic. We underscore how mental health is both directly impacted by the force of pandemic and by prevention and mitigation structures put in place to combat the disease.Methods: We conducted a review of relevant studies examining human rights violations in COVID-19 response, with a focus on vulnerable populations, and its association with mental health and psychological well-being. We searched PubMed and Embase databases for studies between December 2019 to July 2020. Three reviewers evaluated the eligibility criteria and extracted data.Results: Twenty-four studies were included in the systematic inquiry reporting on distress due to human rights violations. Unanimously, the studies found vulnerable populations to be at a high risk for mental distress. Limited mobility rights disproportionately harmed psychiatric patients, low-income individuals, and minorities who were at higher risk for self-harm and worsening mental health. Healthcare workers suffered negative mental health consequences due to stigma and lack of personal protective equipment and stigma. Other vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, and refugees also experienced negative consequences.Conclusions: This review emphasizes the need to uphold human rights and address long term mental health needs of populations that have suffered disproportionately during the pandemic. Countries can embed a proactive psychosocial response to medical management as well as in existing prevention strategies. International human rights guidelines are useful in this direction but an emphasis should be placed on strengthening rights informed psychosocial response with specific strategies to enhance mental health in the long-term. We underscore that various fundamental human rights are interdependent and therefore undermining one leads to a poor impact on the others. We strongly recommend global efforts toward focusing both on minimizing fatalities, protecting human rights, and promoting long term mental well-being.

Stigmatization from Work-Related COVID-19 Exposure: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis

“…We included six systematic reviews with original studies on work-related stigmatization due to COVID-19 exposure in our literature search [28,30,33,[46][47][48]. Four of the reviews [28,30,33,46] only included one original study in their review, which we all iden-tified by our systematic search (original studies: Blake et al [49], Chatterjee et al [50], Juan et al [51], and Mohindra et al [38]).…”

COVID Pandemic Impact on Healthcare Provision and Patient Psychosocial Distress: A Multi-National Cross-Sectional Survey among Asia-Pacific Countries

“…Despite constant media awareness campaigns and efforts, many patients are faced with uncertainty and expressed some degree of psychosocial distress as a result of this pandemic [ 23 24 25 ]. In our study, we found that most of the patients were reasonably happy and accepted the current clinical arrangements under this COVID situation, although some patients expressed dissatisfaction (35.7%) and hold a pessimistic view on the current healthcare system (28.5%).…”

COVID19 and Human Right To Food: Lived Experiences of the Urban Poor in Kenya with the Impacts of Government’s Response Measures, A Participatory Qualitative Study

“…Equally, the government of Kenya promptly implemented measures such as suspension of international ights, partial lockdown, school closure, curfew, compulsory wearing of masks, a ban on social gatherings, restriction of business operating hours, social distancing and cessation of movement across cities following a marked rise in the COVID-19 cases [7,8]. Incidentally, these restrictions to mitigate the pandemic have contributed to vulnerabilities such as strained socioeconomic activities, uncertainty, anxiety, mental distress, loss of livelihoods and violation of human rights as reported in previous studies [9,10]. Moreover, disruption of food systems has heightened food insecurity while the nancial power to access food has been affected as reported in a study conducted in Uganda and Kenya [11].…”