Mental health status of informal waste workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.

Md Rajwanul Haque,M Sajjadur Rahman,Md Mostaured Ali Khan,Shawkat A Begum,Md Mosfequr Rahman,Zezhi Li

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0262141

Md Rajwanul Haque, M Sajjadur Rahman + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262141

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Jan 7, 2022
Citations: 17	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Rajshahi

Abstract

The deadliest coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is taking thousands of lives worldwide and presents an extraordinary challenge to mental resilience. This study assesses mental health status during the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated factors among informal waste workers in Bangladesh. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in June 2020 among 176 informal waste workers selected from nine municipalities and one city corporation in Bangladesh. General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) was used to assess respondents’ mental health. The study found that 80.6% of the individuals were suffering from psychological distress; 67.6% reported anxiety and depression, 92.6% reported social dysfunction, and 19.9% reported loss of confidence. The likelihood of psychological distress (Risk ratio [RR]: 1.23, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02–1.48) was significantly higher for female than male. Multiple COVID-19 symptoms of the family members (RR: 1.20, 95% CI: 1.03–1.41), unawareness about COVID-19 infected neighbor (RR: 1.21, 95% CI: 1.04–1.41), income reduction (RR: 1.60, 95% CI: 1.06–2.41) and daily household meal reduction (RR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.03–1.73) were also found to be associated with psychological distress. These identified factors should be considered in policy-making and support programs for the informal waste workers to manage the pandemic situation as well as combating COVID-19 related psychological challenges.

Highlights

The deadliest global pandemic, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China [1]
Compared to the respondents whose family members did not experience any COVID-19 symptoms, respondents whose family member experienced multiple COVID-19 symptoms were more likely to report psychological distress (RR: 1.20, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03–1.41), and anxiety and depression (RR = 1.89,95% CI: 1.39–2.57)
Mental health status of informal waste workers during the COVID-19 pandemic know whether he had any COVID-19 infected neighbors or not were more likely to develop psychological distress (RR: 1.21, 95% CI: 1.04–1.41) and social dysfunction (RR: 1.07, 95% CI: 1.00–1.13) than who knew that he had no COVID-19 infected neighbors

Summary

Introduction

The deadliest global pandemic, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China [1]. The virus spread worldwide so quickly that the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic on March 2020. By the time of writing (25 November, 2021), more than 258 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 5.17 million deaths have been reported globally [2]. Mental health status of informal waste workers during the COVID-19 pandemic collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

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