A Social Cure for COVID-19: Importance of Networks in Combatting Socio-Economic and Emotional Health Challenges in Informal Settlements in Dhaka, Bangladesh
, Amal Chowdhury 1, Julia Smith 2, Rosemary Morgan 3, Clare Wenham 4 and Sabina Faiz Rashid 1,*
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The study is very interesting and informative. There is only a minor comment which can improve the manuscript. This manuscript should address the impact of the pandemic on alcohol and drug consumption.
Author Response
- The study is very interesting and informative. There is only a minor comment which can improve the manuscript. This manuscript should address the impact of the pandemic on alcohol and drug consumption.
We did not find this in our study, but we did find emotional and psychosocial distress as discussed in the paper. However, evidence has found that, in general, alcohol and drug consumption is prevalent is urban informal settlements irrespective of the pandemic (Zaman, 2021; WHO-SEARO, 2011).
- Zaman, Shahaduz, Faruq Hossain, Shamael Ahmed, and Imran Matin. "Slums during COVID-19: Exploring the Unlocked Paradoxes." (2021).
- World Health Organization. "Addressing health of the urban poor in South-East Asia region: challenges and opportunities." (2011).
Reviewer 2 Report
The article do not discuss any new information.
It is difficult to understand that how this project adresses the issue diferent than any other disasters.
Method part is quite weak.
Somehow this article focues that COVID -19 and lockdown had increased the poverty , unemployement and very especific to the taget group taken by the author , but fails to identify significant results.
Author Response
Point 1: The article do not discuss any new information. It is difficult to understand that how this project adresses the issue diferent than any other disasters.
Response 1: There is very little scholarship on social networks in slums in times of crisis. This is critical to understand the emotional, social and material support provided by family, neighbours and other networks for slum residents who often live very unstable and fragile lives due to extreme poverty and lack of rights, and the absence of formal government interventions. It shows the nuances in types of social networks and support that exist within these contexts and that it is not homogenous despite existing within the same context and setting.
This research is key to better understand how ‘informal’ networks - in the form of resilient trust-based relationships - help families cope and manage in the context of little support and relief. Our study highlights how governments and other actors need to understand the precariousness of slum residents and have better responses to emergencies.
Point 2: Method part is quite weak.
Response 2: Methodology section has been revised to add more relevant details on data collection methodology, data management, analysis framework and ethical clearance.
Point 3: Somehow this article focues that COVID -19 and lockdown had increased the poverty , unemployement and very especific to the taget group taken by the author , but fails to identify significant results.
Point 3: The discussion section has been revised to include a few concrete recommendations. The article aims to identify and highlight how people then managed within these contexts given how fragile these lives were at the time. It provides context to the human dimension of the suffering caused by COVID-19.
Discussion section has been updated with a more concrete policy recommendation against the context of unemployment and rising hunger. The significance is to highlight how government interventions continue to ignore the plight of this target group by applauding their coping mechanisms as resilience, however in reality their lives fall short of the optimal health and wellbeing. This speaks to the dilemma of those being left behind in the time of SDGs.
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Thank you for the revisions and modifactions which you have done .
1. What kind of simmilarity or differences you have received from first set of interviews and second set of interviews?
2. Did you see any changes in the resposes which you have done through telephone and direct interviews.
3. Clear justification could be given for conducting the interviews at two different times duing COVID-19.
4. Although conclusions have been modified but yet to describes how does this study contribute to the theoraties and applications.
Author Response
Thank you for the revisions and modifactions which you have done .
Response: Thank you for you feedback to help strengthen our paper. We hope you will find our newest revisions satisfactory.
- What kind of simmilarity or differences you have received from first set of interviews and second set of interviews?
Response 1: Addressed in Response 3.
- Did you see any changes in the resposes which you have done through telephone and direct interviews.
Response 2: Methodologically, the process of in-person interviews yielded richer data (as expected) due to ease of building rapport and being able to draw on observational data (such as body language, their living conditions, etc).
- Clear justification could be given for conducting the interviews at two different times duing COVID-19.
Response 3: This has been included.
I have also included a line to explain that this particular paper does not draw on the longitudinal/follow-up interviews but rather only the first round.
I am currently unable to address the first two questions due to data confidentiality policies at my institution, as findings which address this will be includes upcoming publications that are currently in progress. Generally, we found in our follow up interviews that the economy had not yet recovered and as such, many were not able to return to work despite the lockdown being lifted.
- Although conclusions have been modified but yet to describes how does this study contribute to the theoraties and applications.
Response 4: The discussion has been updated to more directly state the contribution to existing bodies of knowledge and its policy implications.
