Overcoming corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: Exploring the coping strategies of children and women in rural Nigeria, West-Africa

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic has brought inestimable trauma and loss of person’s amongst who are children and women other than older adults, all over the world. The focus of this study is to explore the coping strategies of children and women during the COVID-19 pandemic, in rural West Africa and how it affects their abilities to access social assistance and economic possibilities. Employing a strengths-based perspective and drawing on a qualitative approach, focus groups and in-depth interviews was conducted among children and women in a remote village in Edo state, Nigeria. Although directly unhurt by the pandemic given their resounding coping mechanism, which is anchored around resilience, relationship, and resources; they were subtly challenged by the reluctance of the Nigerian political leadership to provide ad-hoc safety nets and long-term social support services. To ensure that children and women are not plunged into warrantless travails- not only in the face of the rampaging global contagion, but also for any other that might arise in the years ahead-, recommendations are offered to the Nigerian authorities as well as to social work professionals given their longstanding commitments to this highly vulnerable populations.