Page 25 - Y Mind

Joel Mendonca SJ

coVid-19 : impAcT on heALThcAre or

educATion ?

he name “corona virus” is derived from tor of the student learning here largely de-
Tthe Latin ‘corona’ meaning “crown” pends upon readiness of both teachers and
or “wreath’, itself a borrowing from Greek students to accept digital learning. Not all
κορώνη as the virus structure resembled teachers may be digitally inept and a large
the solar corona or halo when viewed un- number may never have used an online plat-
der an electron microscope. Here is the form. Inspite of the classes online, many
force to decide and coronate the field upon need the tools to operate and are not able
which the virus has had a larger impact. to afford it. A recent survey shows that only

Taking into consideration n the health- 8% of the population has internet access.
care sector and analyzing the impact of only
the virus we see that out of the total popula-
tion of 7.8 billion people up to date virus that
accounts to a mere 0.28% overall and count-
ing. This may not seem severe in case of the
count, but many others who need treatment
for disease like cancer, diabetes and other
cardiovascular disease have not been receiv-
ing them since the pandemic began. The ser-
vice disruptions are widespread accounting
for 53% for hypertension, 49% for diabetes,

42% for cancer and 315 for cardiovascular
diseases. Apart from these are other services Looking at the findings objectively and mea-
like dental, rehabilitation and tobacco cessa- suring upon a common factor of those af-
tion that have not been accounted for. These
finding helped in providing alternative strat- fected, it seems as though the education sec-
egies to support people in most countries. tor takes the crown for the larger impact. But
considering the larger perspective as educa-
On the other hand, if we consider the tion and health being essential for living a
impact on education we see that most gov- meaningful life, we should pristine between

ernment has closed educational institutes to
contain the spread as on 27th July, 2020.106 both. Without having good mental and
countries have implemented local closure. physical health, one will not be able to get
proper education or use the given education
This has impacted 98.6% of world’s student purposefully. Healthy people can find means
population. In 48 countries, schools have re of the survival without education as well.
opened on a digital platform. The main fac-

Young Minds 2020 24