How has COVID-19 impacted households in Odisha & Uttar Pradesh?

In the latest in its series of rapid telephone surveys to gauge the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, NCAER polled 2,068 households in four districts in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh (Districts Bargarh and Dhenkanal in Odisha and Chandauli and Firozabad in UP) during June 9-18, 2020, the second week of the so-called Unlock 1.

In this research done in collaboration with the Nossal Institute for Public Health at the University of Melbourne, the aim is to understand the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on incomes, jobs, migration, availability of essentials, and existing health conditions. The survey also gauged perceptions about the return to work, concern for one’s neighbours, the reliance that can be placed on others, fears related to the virus and isolation, and faith in government’s ability to handle the pandemic. The sample households come from a larger NCAER-Nossal study on “Health Seeking Behaviour in Four Indian States.”

On July 21, NCAER hosted NCAER Fellow Prabir Kumar Ghosh and NCAER’s collaborators from the University of Melbourne’s Nossal Institute for Global Health, Professor Barbara McPake, Director of the Institute and Professor Ajay Mahal to discuss the findings of this latest in NCAER’s series of telephone surveys. The discussion was moderated by NCAER Director General, Shekhar Shah. The webinar was attended by over 110 participants.