The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is falling disproportionately on the most vulnerable population throughout the world, and Nepal is no exception. The impact has been felt by marginalized communities through two predicaments: direct exposure to the virus itself, and economic lock-down imposed by the government as a measure to contain the spread. On the one hand, low-income communities of Nepal are at the risk of being severely exposed to the diseases and likely to have a high mortality rate due to inadequate resources. On the other, the economic lockdown has led to unintended consequences as they have been deprived of their means of livelihood. This paper intends to present a deeper analysis of how some of the poorest and marginalized communities in Nepal have been affected by this global pandemic and identifies some immediate short and long-run action plans as policy recommendations.
Dr. Romy Das Karna was born and raised in Nepal. She earned her Master’s in Agricultural Systems from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and her PhD in Agricultural Economics from Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany. Her research interests include Natural Resource and Environmental Economics, Sustainable Food and Agriculture. Her PhD research extensively deals with economic and social issues of soil conservation in the hilly region of Nepal. At Salem, she has been teaching Micro and Macroeconomics as well as Introduction to Environmental Studies. Currently, she is working as Technical Evaluator at the FoodChainID, an industry leader in Food Safety and Non-GMO Certification business.
Comments
Romy, thank you so much for your presentation. I hope the decision-makers will be as affected by it as we all were.