Our forgotten frontline workers

Column for Mathrubhumi

(Translated in Malayalam)

Link: https://english.mathrubhumi.com/features/specials/forgotten-female-frontline-workers-in-times-of-covid-19-1.4908915

What will our lives will be like when and if this pandemic ends? Will some kind of normality return at some stage? These are questions everyone asks.

What is clear, however, is that what we considered "normal" yesterday is unlikely to return for a long time to come. The pandemic has brought with it some changes that are here to stay.

The cost of the pandemic is measured in human lives, and in the losses to the economy and people's livelihood.  Even these cannot be calculated accurately because every day there is a change.  Around the world, places that thought they had beaten the virus are now seeing new cases emerge.

But there are also hidden costs. We will know of them in the years to come. And one of them has to do with women, especially poor women.

Under the centrally-sponsored Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), lakhs of children under six years, and pregnant and lactating mothers in rural areas get a hot cooked meal every day. The efficiency of the scheme varies from state to state.  Yet, often this is the only nutritious meal these children and women get. It is a lifeline for them.

The army of women who run the anganwadis, the backbone of the scheme, are rarely acknowledged for this crucial work they do.  We don't recognise the problems they face as women, the burdens they carry in their own homes, how they struggle to find the transport to get to work, or visit the families of the women and children.  They are our forgotten frontline workers.

Today, the absence of these women is being felt by millions of undernourished children and pregnant women.

The system has virtually broken down in many states because of the pandemic. Due to the lockdown and the absence of public transport, anganwadi workers are unable to go to work. As a result, anganwadis are closed.

The daily cooked meal cannot be prepared.  State governments have resorted to giving out dry rations instead. And pregnant women are not getting nutritional supplements, nor are infants being vaccinated.

The packet of dry rations helps but does not solve the problem.  In tribal areas, it is a challenge to ensure the rations reach the families. Even if they get them, the entire family shares the food. With women socialised to eat last, and least, a pregnant woman is unlikely to get the nutrition she needs.

This state of affairs, stretched over many months, will have a direct impact on the health of these children and women. The exact extent of this will only be known a year or so down the line when surveys establish the extent of child malnutrition and mortality as well as maternal mortality.

This is tragic because with all its faults, the ICDS has been a central part of improving the health of women and children, especially in rural areas.  India's statistics on child mortality and nutrition as well as maternal mortality have improved, although some states like UP and MP continue to lag behind.

It is equally worrying that in cities, like Mumbai for instance, the same thing is happening.  In slums, anganwadis have closed down.  There are no hot meals.  Pregnant women, who would earlier have been fairly confident of accessing a hospital for delivery, are now worried about infection, and the lack of available hospital beds. 

Such women include many who are married to workers from other states.  These men have no work, and no money. The women are not in a condition to travel and return to their villages. They live in dense slums without basic facilities of water and sanitation. What happens to such women during this time?

It is time to think about these hidden costs, and these forgotten frontline workers.