The socio-economic and psychosocial impact of Covid-19 pandemic on urban refugees in Uganda

Abstract

Considering the COVID-19 global public health crisis, this paper examines the socio-cultural, economic and psychosocial impact of the pandemic on urban refugees in Uganda. We analyse the living conditions of urban refugees that make it problematic for them to adhere to public health measures. Since COVID-19 is perceived as “imported”, refugees are assumed as its potential transmitters, consequently experiencing heightened stigma and isolation. Lack of culturally and linguistically accessible information and services excludes them from on-going efforts to prevent the pandemic. The lockdown has affected refugee livelihoods and increased income insecurity, sexual and gender-based violence and anxiety. Given the paucity of government-led services to contain the epidemic, we argue that contingency planning must involve refugees and their communities to access accurate and relevant information in appropriate languages. It is also important to build the capacity of frontline workers to understand the specific needs of refugees to deliver appropriate protection in the context of the pandemic.

Post-COVID-19 Scenarios in the East African Community: Implications for Sustainable Development

“…The footprints of COVID-19 in EAC are not incongruous to what have been ubiquitously recorded in other regions of the world [12,21,27,[92][93][94][95]. The only spot of difference is that it was further hit by a hydrometeorological disaster (floods) and desert locusts (particularly Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda), which will exaggerate the impacts of the pandemic [12,29,30].…”

“…This cannot be disputed because history also pins that international agreements pertaining to climate change and sustainable development (such as the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) have been reached, advocated and promoted [26], yet compliance to such initiatives have remained zig-zag, due to the disparities in country-specific natural and monetary resources. Developing economies specifically are dependent on unsustainable or fragile economic paths viz; most follow economic models that heavily depend on exploitative activities, agrarian economies and are battlefields for socio-political conflicts, or are vulnerable to natural disasters and extreme weather events [27,28]. For example, the emergence of COVID-19 was ensued by gigantic swarms of the desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) which devastated agricultural crops in Southwest Asia, East Africa and the Middle East [12,29].…”

“…The only spot of difference is that it was further hit by a hydrometeorological disaster (floods) and desert locusts (particularly Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda), which will exaggerate the impacts of the pandemic [12,29,30]. The reactions of the EAC to the pandemic generally followed global trends because the first cases of COVID-19 were in essence imported [27,96]. Kenya was the first to record its corona virus case on 12 th March 2020 [97,98], followed by Rwanda and Tanzania on 14 th and 16 th March 2020 [98,99], Uganda on March 21 st 2020 while Burundi and South Sudan registered their first cases on 25 th March 2020 and 5 th April 2020, respectively [12].…”

Translational Strategies to Control and Prevent Spread of COVID-19 in the Rohiynga Refugee Camps in Bangladesh

“…Expansion of Healthcare Facilities Planning for expanding the health centres for diagnosing and caring for COVID-19 patients needs to be undertaken. Specific attention must be given to frontline emergency patient care [49]. This should include well-defined referral pathways for providing clinical care to patients.…”

Differences in psychosocial impact of lockdown and life satisfaction among Nigerian working adults during Covid-19

“…The desire to understand the impact of the Covid-19 on people's social relationships and mental health as well as its influence on life satisfaction has led to the conduct of many studies among different categories of people in several countries of the world (Wang, et al, 2019;Fardin, 2020;Otu et al, 2020;Zhang & Ma, 2020;Blake, et al, 2020;Bukuluki, et al, 2020;Dai, et al, 2020;UCL, 2020;White & Boor, 2020;Briggs & Numbere, 2020;Olaseni, et al, 2020). For instance, examined the unprecedented disruption of lives and work: health, distress, and life satisfaction of working adults in China one month into the Covid-19 outbreak.…”