When Battling Covid-19 Becomes a National Policy Disaster

The COVID-19 vaccine administered through the COVAX Facility. Credit: PAHO/Karen GonzálezBy Darini Rajasingham-SenanayakeCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 19 2021 (IPS) We went to the Kanatte cemetery, Sri Lanka’s largest, where most of us, residents of the capital city, would end up sooner or later. But it was deserted, and so we had time for a leisurely chat with some of the helpful staff there, albeit after admiring some of the grave sites and remaining beautiful trees. As good social scientists and medical anthropologists, we were on a mission to do some qualitative research and cross-check Covid-19 quantitative data, to see if there was an increase in deaths, in the biggest city and population hub of the country. Colombo’s cemetery was quiet, calm, green and monsoonal. It was a far cry from the overflowing cemeteries, floating bodies and weeping masses we have encountered on our television screens in narratives from New York, Sao Paulo or New Delhi, where the global Covid-19 media show has gone to town. We were shown the red log books with the names of the deceased. We learned that over the last two weeks, there was less business, fewer funerals than in January and February this year, as there had been fewer bodies coming for burial and/or cremation during the current month of May 2021, although the country is in lockdown. This was also corroborated by interviews at A.F Raymond Funeral Parlour, which also had less business and fewer funerals in the past couple of weeks ̵...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Aid Development & Aid Editors' Choice Featured Global Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies Population Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news