Elsevier, The Lancet Global Health, Volume 8, November 2020
Background: Stay-at-home orders (lockdowns) have been deployed globally to control COVID-19 transmission, and might impair economic conditions and mental health, and exacerbate risk of food insecurity and intimate partner violence. The effect of lockdowns in low-income and middle-income countries must be understood to ensure safe deployment of these interventions in less affluent settings. We aimed to determine the immediate impact of COVID-19 lockdown orders on women and their families in rural Bangladesh. Methods: An interrupted time series was used to compare data collected from families in Rupganj upazila, rural Bangladesh (randomly selected from participants in a randomised controlled trial), on income, food security, and mental health a median of 1 year and 2 years before the COVID-19 pandemic to data collected during the lockdown. We also assessed women's experiences of intimate partner violence during the pandemic. Results: Between May 19 and June 18, 2020, we randomly selected and invited the mothers of 3016 children to participate in the study, 2424 of whom provided consent. 2414 (99·9%, 95% CI 99·6–99·9) of 2417 mothers were aware of, and adhering to, the stay-at-home advice. 2321 (96·0%, 95·2–96·7) of 2417 mothers reported a reduction in paid work for the family. Median monthly family income fell from US$212 at baseline to $59 during lockdown, and the proportion of families earning less than $1·90 per day rose from five (0·2%, 0·0–0·5) of 2422 to 992 (47·3%, 45·2–49·5) of 2096 (p
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Keywords:
Adult; Article; Bangladesh; Behavior Disorder Assessment; Catering Service; Child, Preschool; Coronavirus Disease 2019; Coronavirus Infection; Coronavirus Infections; Emotional Abuse; Family; Family Income; Female; Food Insecurity; Food Supply; Generalised Anxiety Disorder 7 Tool; Household Food Insecurity Access Scale; Human; Humans; Income; Infant; Infection Control; Interrupted Time Series Analysis; Intimate Partner Violence; Legislation And Jurisprudence; Male; Mental Disease; Mental Disorders; Mental Health; Middle Aged; Mother; Mothers; Pandemic; Pandemics; Partner Violence; Physical Violence; Pneumonia, Viral; Preschool Child; Prevalence; Priority Journal; Psychology; Quarantine; Questionnaire; Randomized Controlled Trial (topic); Randomized Controlled Trials As Topic; Rural Population; Scoring System; Sexual Violence; Shopping; Socioeconomics; Virus Pneumonia; Young Adult; Asia