AUGUST 4 ― Malaysia has reached a critical juncture in the quest to overcome the pandemic as July 31 marked 500 days of since Malaysia’s first movement control order was implemented. Since then, Malaysians have been in various stages of limited economic and social activity for 16 months and counting.
This is especially true for women living in poverty, women in remote or interior regions and women experiencing domestic violence, who are then unable to influence their own reproductive health during lockdowns. Empowering and increasing resources for NGOs to ease their reach to marginalised, underserved women and girls is critical in building capacity for unmet needs; as are guidelines for doctors and nurses regarding SRHR during the pandemic.
Malaysia has also seen a worrying increase in female suicide rates, with 80 per cent of the cumulative 1708 reported suicides since 2019 being young women, which could be linked to gender-based violence. Malaysians just like everyone else around the world have been feeling a heightened sense of anxiety and depression as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. — Reuters picGlobally, women are more likely than men to work in precarious, informal jobs while shouldering a greater burden of unpaid care work, and can face interruptions to their work, loss of livelihoods and increased care responsibilities as a result of Covid-19.
MCO 3.0 has indeed hit our underserved B40 women and communities hard, particularly those in urban and remote areas, such as in Sabah as reflected by the ongoing multitude of aid requests. No income, no cash in hand and limited access to nutritious food has thus become the lived reality for many residents living in the People’s Housing Projects around Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile, a centralised, integrated social protection database is a long-term solution to address Malaysia’s social protection and welfare gaps.Covid-19 has sparked an increased demand for mental health services globally, not just in Malaysia. The varied stresses of pandemic lockdowns are major contributing factors to this upswing.
As training and recruitment will not address this gap, drawing upon innovative methods will prove key in addressing the suicide crisis. Working with private healthcare providers can also bridge the gap through collation of accurate data and application of precision treatment which identifies risk factors and protective factors to proactively counsel people in distress reaching out to hotlines.
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