The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on self-employed women in Zambia

22 April, 2021

Dear HIFA and HIFA-Zambia members,

One of the questions we have been exploring on HIFA is: What has been the impact of health service disruptions on the health and wellbeing of people in your health facility or country?

This paper from Zambia provides a valuable insight from direct testimonies of self-employed women in Zambia

CITATION: The impact of COVID-19 lockdown in a developing country: narratives of self-employed women in Ndola, Zambia. Health care for women international. 41 (11-12) (pp 1370-1383), 2020. Date of Publication: 01 Nov 2020.

Mathew N.; Deborah I.; Karonga T.; Rumbidzai C. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07399332.2020.1823983

ABSTRACT

Women are normally self-employed in businesses involving buying and selling of goods. Such businesses were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic lock-down. The researchers explored the impact the of COVID-19 lockdown on self-employed women. The researchers used a qualitative approach. Interviews were used to collect data. Forty participants took part in the study. The data was thematically analyzed. The researchers found that participants were affected by Inadequate food supplies, Hopelessness to revive business, Poor access to health services, Psychological trauma, Defaulting medications, and Challenges of keeping children indoors. There is need to provide social and economic support to self-employed women.

The full text is freely accessible and I note that there is an option to *listen* to the text, which would clearly be useful for people with vision impairment.

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Neil Pakenham-Walsh, HIFA Coordinator, neil@hifa.org www.hifa.org