This year has been tough. Many of us have been living in fear with daily worries. Fear of Covid-19. Worrying about our loved ones, our health, our jobs and the future.
A new inter-agency Red Cross and United Nations study confirms that Covid-19 is causing a huge amount of worry among a lot of people across four Asian countries, taking a massive emotional toll. Many already face many other concerns such as disasters or poverty. These findings come as India passes five million official cases of the coronavirus, only the second country in the world to do so.
A staggering 8.9 million people have been infected in Asia, nearly a third of global cases. Many countries are still experiencing a hard-hitting first wave, including Indonesia, the Philippines and India. While others, such as South Korea, Vietnam and Australia have been re-imposing restrictions to overcome a second wave of the virus.
The report analyses data from Pakistan, Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia and highlights the importance of greater action to address emotional well-being, particularly among those most vulnerable to Covid-19, as well as its socio-economic side effects. Among other questions, participants were asked how often they worried about a list of potential fears and anxieties.
It must be of serious concern to all of us that in a survey of nearly 5,000 people across four countries, seven out of 10 people worry about restricted access to food supplies.
But this is far from the only topic that causes anxiety. A similarly high number of people across the four Asian countries, 71% of respondents, fear civil unrest, while four out of five are worried about losing their jobs.
In Pakistan, the survey reveals one third of people have frequent fears of a recession, while in Myanmar and Malaysia close to four out of five are worried about a major economic downturn and one in two in Indonesia are concerned about the economy nose-diving.
The emotional toll of worrying about losing someone we love cannot be underestimated. The survey revealed that nearly nine out of 10 people live with the fear of losing loved ones and nearly as many are also concerned that health systems will be overloaded. These numbers show that people worry about a multitude of risks and do so frequently. This continuous stress about the future undermines their ability to deal with uncertainty and find solutions to help them stay afloat in this new normal.
Mental health support is woefully inadequate in most countries around the world. It's only in recent years that many governments and businesses have been taking serious action, recognising that it makes good economic sense to look after our emotional well-being. More than ever, we need accessible and localised mental health support. There needs to be more active engagement with communities at all levels, focused on identifying and supporting solutions proposed by communities. Instead of coming up with solutions by ourselves we should be troubleshooting in partnership with communities.
Communities are telling us that we need to provide content that enables them to act and make decisions. More importantly, we need to amplify these worries and suggested solutions in order to make sure that communities can lead the charge against Covid-19.
Red Cross Red Crescent national societies are doing this several ways. In Indonesia, we are engaging communities with radio programmes and social media campaigns and in Malaysia animations and other engagement strategies are planned. In Pakistan community feedback and perceptions are regularly documented and addressed through a hotline and by volunteers.
Much more can and must be done. As we face ongoing uncertainty and fear, it's vital that we find ways to support the emotional and mental well-being of communities. This means investing more into mental health support but also listening to and addressing some of the underlying causes of these fears and worries.
Viviane Fluck, PhD, is International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Asia Pacific (IFRC) Community Engagement and Accountability Coordinator and Co-Chair of the Asia Pacific Risk Communications and Community Engagement Working Group together with UNOCHA and WHO.