COVID-19 and Bangladesh (COVID-19 in Asia)

COVID-19 and Bangladesh analyzes the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and features the socioeconomic fallouts for disadvantaged communities in Bangladesh, their coping mechanisms, and implications for the country’s development ambitions.

The contributors to the book examine the immediate impact of economic adversities, which rapidly translated into health, employment, education, and other socioeconomic problems. They show that the pandemic has disproportionately impacted the communities that were traditionally left behind and created a new group of people that are “pushed behind”. Structured in four sections, the book examines impact and adjustment in the areas of employment, income, and expenditure and health, education, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and offers policy perspectives. The empirical analysis and policy conclusions presented in the chapters are based on official secondary data, household-level primary surveys, focus-group discussions, key informant interviews, and reviews of public policy documents. The policy conclusions and outlook presented in the book can be instructive for other low-middle income, or graduating least developed countries (LDC).

A unique contribution to the current debate on the diverse implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, this book will be of interest to policymakers and academics studying health and society in Asia and other countries of the Global South.

Debapriya Bhattacharya is Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh; Member, United Nations Committee for Development Policy (UN-CDP), and Convenor of the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh. He is also the Founding Chair of Southern Voice and former Ambassador of Bangladesh to the WTO and UN Offices in Geneva and Vienna.

Towfiqul Islam Khan is Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh. He is a member of the “SDG Task Team” of the Prime Minister’s Office, Government of Bangladesh.