COVID-19 crisis in relation to religion, health and poverty in Zimbabwe: A case study of the Harare urban communities

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title COVID-19 crisis in relation to religion, health and poverty in Zimbabwe: A case study of the Harare urban communities
 
Creator Muyangata, Joseph Shumba, Sibiziwe
 
Subject Sociology, COVID-19 crisis; health; poverty; relationship; Zimbabwean communities; religion.
Description The COVID-19 pandemic which started in China in 2019, was originally described as a public health emergency of intercontinental concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) in January 2020. Due to its speedy rate of spread, the WHO then declared it a pandemic after 6 weeks. The global spread of COVID-19 has been attributed to the high mobility between and within countries. Having noted the wide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, almost every country affected, developed strict and restrictive public health measures to control the spread of the virus. Such measures included restrictions on country borders and social gatherings. Hence, the main purpose of the paper was to explore the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in relation to religion, health and poverty in Harare urban communities as well as determining solutions to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on those sectors. The research methodology was qualitative in nature. Primary data were collected through in-depth telephone interviews and online open-ended questionnaires. Purposive sampling was used to select the study participants. The findings showed that the COVID-19 pandemic triggered and exposed the inequalities in health. The pandemic also had a strong impact on religious activities and it exacerbated poverty levels as well. Those who had all the access to medication, food and vaccinations during the height of COVID-19 may not fully appreciate the impact that poverty coupled with pandemics left on their communities both religiously and socially. Malnutrition, hunger and sickness were the order of the day among the poor.Contribution: The conclusion was that COVID-19 negatively impacted on the health, religious and social sectors. Therefore, it is critical to maintain preventive and curative services, especially for the most vulnerable populations such as children, older persons, and people with disabilities.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2023-05-15
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Survey/Interview
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v79i3.8085
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 79, No 3 (2023); 7 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8085/25056 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8085/25057 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8085/25058 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8085/25059
 
Coverage — — Gender
Rights Copyright (c) 2023 Joseph Muyangata, Sibiziwe Shumba https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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