The socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 and the social work response in Southern Africa

Abstract

This paper examines the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of social work in mitigation, recovery and coping with future shocks. Although the paper adopts a general approach to the theme of the study, the focus is more on southern African countries, namely Eswatini, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Southern Africa has since become the epicenter of the pandemic on the continent, following the first positive case recorded in the region in early March 2020. Of grave concern though, is the failure to protect the poor and vulnerable in the event of pandemics such as COVID-19 and yet they should be prioritised in the allocation of resources. Furthermore, the lack of comprehensive social protection measures in many African countries is likely to make both response and recovery from the pandemic difficult. As such, given that social workers are concerned with issues of social justice and human wellbeing, they are critical role players (both directly and indirectly) in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their role should span containment, mitigation of negative impacts, recovery, and building resilience to future shocks. The paper is based on secondarysources of data including the internet, the print and electronic media, journal articles and research reports on COVID-19 in the three countries.

Keywords: COVID-19, Eswatini, social work, socioeconomic impacts, South Africa, Zimbabwe