South Asia
As COVID-19 spreads, fears rise for people at higher risk
AI News :
As cases of COVID-19 escalate in South Asia, one of the world’s poorest and most populous regions, Amnesty International calls on the authorities there to put human rights at the heart of their responses and intensify efforts to protect marginalized and vulnerable groups at higher risk, including daily wage earners, people displaced by conflict, health workers and prisoners.
The COVID-19 pandemic is poised to break into thousands of cases in South Asia as more governments across the region this week imposed strict lockdowns and curfews amid fears the virus will strike densely populated areas, overwhelming woefully inadequate healthcare facilities and devastating livelihoods across a region where more than 600 million people already live in poverty.
Pakistan reported 1,026 cases on 25 March, with seven deaths so far, while India recorded the second highest with 606 cases and 10 deaths. The numbers are rising sharply on a daily basis and are estimated to be significantly higher
than reported given the paucity of testing. “As the number of COVID-19 cases in South Asia soars, the region’s leaders must pay special attention to the most vulnerable and marginalized in this crisis. They need to protect the workers for whom staying at home means losing their livelihoods, people who lost their homes in conflicts and now languish in overcrowded camps, prisoners squeezed into cells with several others, and, not least, the valiant doctors and nurses who have never had the resources they need and are now putting their own health at risk to save others,” said Biraj Patnaik, South Asia Director at Amnesty International.
The COVID-19 crisis in South Asia has been exacerbated by a failure of the authorities in South Asia to provide accessible, accurate and evidence-based information about the virus, how people can protect themselves, and what the government is doing to help them.
Some senior government officials in different countries in the region have, in recent weeks, either played down the crisis, suppressed information about its true scale, or, in the most damaging cases, provided false information about the effect it has – undermining the effectiveness of any public health response and potentially their right to health.
People living in rural areas, where literacy rates are low and access to health care severely limited, are particularly affected by a lack of reliable information about COVID-19.
In Afghanistan, information has been slow to reach areas that are remote or affected by the ongoing conflict. There is generally poor access to health care across the country, with low levels of testing taking place, but women and girls in remote areas are at risk of being left behind from the response – particularly where harmful local traditions prohibit women’s access to health.
As cases of COVID-19 escalate in South Asia, one of the world’s poorest and most populous regions, Amnesty International calls on the authorities there to put human rights at the heart of their responses and intensify efforts to protect marginalized and vulnerable groups at higher risk, including daily wage earners, people displaced by conflict, health workers and prisoners.
The COVID-19 pandemic is poised to break into thousands of cases in South Asia as more governments across the region this week imposed strict lockdowns and curfews amid fears the virus will strike densely populated areas, overwhelming woefully inadequate healthcare facilities and devastating livelihoods across a region where more than 600 million people already live in poverty.
Pakistan reported 1,026 cases on 25 March, with seven deaths so far, while India recorded the second highest with 606 cases and 10 deaths. The numbers are rising sharply on a daily basis and are estimated to be significantly higher
than reported given the paucity of testing. “As the number of COVID-19 cases in South Asia soars, the region’s leaders must pay special attention to the most vulnerable and marginalized in this crisis. They need to protect the workers for whom staying at home means losing their livelihoods, people who lost their homes in conflicts and now languish in overcrowded camps, prisoners squeezed into cells with several others, and, not least, the valiant doctors and nurses who have never had the resources they need and are now putting their own health at risk to save others,” said Biraj Patnaik, South Asia Director at Amnesty International.
The COVID-19 crisis in South Asia has been exacerbated by a failure of the authorities in South Asia to provide accessible, accurate and evidence-based information about the virus, how people can protect themselves, and what the government is doing to help them.
Some senior government officials in different countries in the region have, in recent weeks, either played down the crisis, suppressed information about its true scale, or, in the most damaging cases, provided false information about the effect it has – undermining the effectiveness of any public health response and potentially their right to health.
People living in rural areas, where literacy rates are low and access to health care severely limited, are particularly affected by a lack of reliable information about COVID-19.
In Afghanistan, information has been slow to reach areas that are remote or affected by the ongoing conflict. There is generally poor access to health care across the country, with low levels of testing taking place, but women and girls in remote areas are at risk of being left behind from the response – particularly where harmful local traditions prohibit women’s access to health.
