70% low-income people in Bangladesh eating less amid pandemic: study

A study by BRAC University reveals how the coronavirus crisis has threatened food security for the low-income households of Bangladesh.

The findings of the survey, published on Tuesday, showed that 40 percent of the low-income demography struggle to eat three times a day while 70 percent of them are getting less food.

Struck by poverty, these people are consuming less protein to cope with the financial restraints, said 87 percent of people interviewed in the survey.

BRACU’s Centre for Peace and Justice or CPJ carried out the study, titled “COVID-19-created livelihood crisis, social cohesion challenge and mitigation measures”, in November and December 2020.

CPJ researcher Sanaul Mostafa and Shahidul Islam presented the study report on Tuesday. The research was conducted with the help of 1,064 respondents.

The study also found work pressure on women climb from 18 percent to 53 amid the pandemic.

Seventy percent of the respondents feel the government should help them recuperate from the financial losses they suffered while 16 percent think they will be able to deal with crisis.

The researchers said people on low incomes who work in the informal sector in urban areas and expatriate workers who returned to the country suffered more losses during the pandemic.

The low-income people have slipped into debt as their earnings have been cut down by a third while they received no loans from other official sources, the study found.

Most of the respondents identified the government’s measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus as positive, but they cast doubt over the possibility of the authorities bringing the situation under control.

Yameen Mazumder, senior programme specialist of BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, said people of the low-income bracket are struggling to keep their life and livelihood in balance.

“There is no assurance of social security for most of the people in our country who work in the informal sector. The policy makers have to keep this in mind during lockdowns,” he said.

BRAC Chairperson Hossain Zillur Rahman said: “The matter of people falling into poverty is now a reality. The poor people of cities are in more crises in Covid times."