Direct and indirect effects of the covid-19 pandemic and response in South Asia

19

Chapter 3

Results

Table 8: Estimated costs (US$) of COVID-19 testing, and healthcare utilization, by mitigation response and country

Country	Testing*	No additional mitigation	Hand Hygiene	Smart Lockdowns	Masks	All strategies
India	7,895,416,016	2,312,178,836	659,011,716	1,188,388,652	845,015,380	404,045,268
Pakistan	87,407,669	35,342,956	34,396,648	33,464,464	34,095,336	34,792,120
Bangladesh	78,182,660	49,019,696	49,010,280	48,544,188	48,878,456	49,255,096
Nepal	26,757,389	3,403,884	3,323,848	3,342,680	3,370,928	3,253,228
Afghanistan	NA	33,455,048	29,975,836	32,249,800	31,468,272	28,690,552
Total	8,087,763,734	2,433,400,420	775,718,328	1,305,989,784	962,828,372	520,036,264
All figures are in US$ No testing data available for Afghanistan *Testing is assumed to continue at the current level

Maternal and child mortality and nutrition

Even before the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020, coverage of essential SRMNCH services were being affected in several countries of South Asia. The SRMNCH services for which actual DHIS/HMIS data were available for all countries are summarized in Panel 1.

Based on actual data available from country-specific health data systems, coverage of family planning services decreased by 3 – 31% in five of the six South Asian countries included in our analysis (Figure 5) in the first quarter of 2020, compared to that observed during the same period in 2019. Afghanistan is the only country which reported an increase in coverage family planning services over this period, which could be questioned as erroneous (^12%, Figure 5).

In the second quarter of 2020, which corresponds with the most stringent COVID-19 control strategies being instituted in the region, coverage of all essential

Panel 1: SRMNCH services included and modelled in the LiST analysis

Family planning Antenatal care (4+ visits)

Tetanus Toxoid (2 or more doses) Facility births

Postnatal visit within 2 days after birth Vaccine: DPT3/Penta3

Full immunization

Zinc for treatment of diarrhea – Zinc Supplementation Antibiotics for pneumonia

SAM- treatment for severe acute malnutrition

SRMNCH services declined substantially, with coverage of most services reducing by >50% across South Asia (Figure 5), compared to levels observed during the same period in 2019.

© UNICEF Bangladesh/UNI340636/Sujan/2020