KATHMANDU, April 16: In a survey conducted by a team of researchers, 60% of Nepalis say they are “anxious and worried about [themself] and [their] family”. Similarly, 58% of the respondents say they “experienced sadness following the pandemic”.
A majority of the people (84%) regularly receive information about covid19 from newspapers and radio, and 67% receive from social media, including Facebook.
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And, the prolonged lockdown seems to be impacting people’s mental health. 42% of the people said they are suffering from “at least one problem”, and 26% say they are suffering from “two or more problems”. According to the survey, psychological problems include restlessness, fearfulness, anxiety, worry and sadness. But only 15% said their alcohol consumption and substance abuse has increased in the last two weeks.
Mental health issues seem to be impacting both male and females equally: 45% female and 40% male. Of the surveyed, 47% are students, 47% are business people, 43% are in agriculture/labor/household works, 40% in the service sector and 38% are health workers. Similarly, 43% of the respondents live in rented space and 41% own a home.
Economic status of the respondents are also spread across the spectrum: 56% of the surveyed earn less than 10,000 per month, 46% earn between 10 to 20,000 per month, 38% earn 20 to 50,000 and 36% earn more than 50,000 per month.
Researchers prepared a set of short questionnaires after consulting health workers, researchers and academicians. The online link of the survey was shared on social media platforms. The information was collected from April 3 to 10, and a total of 1,618 people participated in the survey, and only 1,507 of them were from Nepal. Only the respondents living in Nepal were used to analyze the survey. Ramesh Prasad Adhikari, Aman Sen Gupta, Rajan Shresth and Dr Kamal Gautam designed and published the survey.
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