Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Monitoring COVID-19 Impacts on Households in Ethiopia

2020; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1596/33824

Christina Wieser, Alemayehu A. Ambel, Tom Bundervoet, Asmelash Haile,

COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts

The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic and social effects on households have created an urgent need for timely data to help monitor and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the crisis and protect the welfare of the least well-off in Ethiopian society.To monitor how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting Ethiopia's economy and people and to inform interventions and policy responses, the World Bank designed and conducted its High-Frequency Phone Survey of Households (HFPS-HH).The HFPS-HH builds on the national longitudinal Ethiopia Socioeconomic Survey (ESS) that the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) carried out in 2019 in collaboration with the World Bank.The HFPS-HH drew a subsample of the ESS sample that was representative of households with access to a working phone.The same households will be tracked over six months, with selected respondents (typically the household head) completing phone-based interviews every three to four weeks.This high-frequency follow-up allows for better understanding the effects of and household responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in near real time to support new, evidence-based responses.This survey brief summarizes the results of the first round of the HFPS-HH, implemented between April 22 and May 13, 2020. 1 The brief is based on a sample of 3,249 households in both urban and rural areas in all regions of Ethiopia.The 15-minute questionnaire covers such topics as knowledge of COVID and mitigation measures, access to educational activities during school closures, employment dynamics, household income and livelihood, income loss and coping strategies, and assistance received.To prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to ensure that measures to slow it, such as mobility restrictions and market closures, are effective, it is essential that people be aware of the need to change their behaviors.Virtually every household (99.7 percent) had heard about the coronavirus or COVID-19.The respondents reported being wellinformed about actions to reduce the spread.Almost everyone knew about handwashing, and 89 percent knew 1 The data collection was undertaken by Laterite (Ethiopia) Ltd.Households seem well aware of COVID-19, and the vast majority have knowledge of behaviors necessary to minimize the risk of contracting or spreading the virus.Schools have been closed for two months but in only 12 percent of rural households are children engaged in any form of distance learning.The percentage in urban areas is more than three times higher.The COVID-19 pandemic has hit total household incomes hard: 55 percent of respondents report that household incomes were either reduced or had totally disappeared.13 percent of respondents lost their job since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Ethiopia-18 percent in urban areas and 10 percent in rural areas.Hospitality, construction, and wholesale and retail were the most affected in terms of job losses.Since the outbreak began 8 percent of households-10 percent of rural and 3 percent of urban-have received assistance from government, NGOs, or religious institutions.