Livelihood challenges of single female household heads in the Rohingya and host communities in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic

BMC Public Health

Research

Saifa Raz¹  Sabina Faiz Rashid¹  Abdul Jabbar¹  Sameen Nasar¹  Muhammad Riaz Hossain¹  M Shafiqur Rahman²  Bachera Aktar³  A. S. M. Nadim⁴ 

[1] BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, 6th Floor Medona Tower, 1212, Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh;BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, 6th Floor Medona Tower, 1212, Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh;Institute of Statistical Research and Training, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh;BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, 6th Floor Medona Tower, 1212, Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh;Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK;Save the Children, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh;

关键词: Humanitarian crises;    Humanitarian health;    Single female household heads;    Livelihood;    Mental health;    Bangladesh;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-023-16964-2

 received in 2022-11-23, accepted in 2023-10-11,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundFollowing the mass influx of Rohingya refugees into Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh in 2017, makeshift settlement camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf have been overburdened, leading to livelihood challenges for both Rohingya and host communities. The humanitarian crisis has had adverse effects on vulnerable populations, which include older people, persons with disabilities, adolescents, and single female household heads. Using a subset of a larger dataset on households with most vulnerable groups in both communities, we analysed the effect of the pandemic and lockdown on the livelihood of single female household (HH) heads.MethodsA cross-sectional household roster survey was designed to collect data from households with most vulnerable groups (MVGs) of host and Rohingya communities from December 2020 to March 2021; 11 host community villages and 10 Rohingya camps purposively selected as per the affiliated intervention of the project. The paper analysed quantitative and qualitative data from the sub-group of single female household heads without any income/low income. Participants were surveyed for their socio-demographic characteristics, COVID-19 experiences and knowledge, food security situation, social experiences and mental health using PHQ-2 test for depression.ResultsWe surveyed 432 single female HH heads. Support during the pandemic was reported to be low, with less than 50% of HHs reporting relief meeting their needs; only 36% and 15% of these HHs received rations in camps and host communities respectively. Loan facilities were mostly unavailable and there were reported insufficiencies in food consumption. Over 50% of respondents tested positive on the PHQ-2, a scale used to screen for depression. Further analyses indicates that having a chronic health issue (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.33–3.66) was positively associated with the PHQ-2 score for Rohingya single females. For host single females, having an ill member in the HH (OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.02–2.08) and the inability to save before the pandemic (OR 1.57 95% CI 1.11–2.23) increased the odds of screening positive for depression.ConclusionOur study findings revealed insufficiencies with economic opportunities and food security for single female-headed households, as well as a high rate of positive screening for depression amongst this population. These findings call for a more in-depth understanding of the needs of this group.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

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