Human Well-Being and Pandemic Crisis: Implications for Social Work Practice from Kerala Experience

ABSTRACT

Nipah virus, the consecutive 2018 and 2019 floods, the internal social, economic and political struggles have had a significant impact on the lives of people in Kerala, India. While the state of Kerala was trying to get back to some form of stability, Covid-19 slams into, in an unprecedented way, drastically disrupting the lives of many. It has shaken the interconnectedness and interdependence of families and placed communities in a state of fear, anxiety and uncertainty. This article is about the vulnerabilities, experiences, voices and untold stories of courage and resilience among people in Kerala. Authors present a reflective analysis of the multidimensional impact of Covid-19 on the ordinary lives of the people of Kerala. The deleterious impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the entire humanity reckons the attention of governments, economists, educators, social scientists, medical and allied professionals, including social workers, to make concerted efforts to preserve and promote human well-being. Taking into consideration the structural inequalities in society, the present paper utilises a critical social work theoretical lens to analyse how it has impacted the well-being of people, especially the marginalised and vulnerable communities in Kerala. © 2020 Jacab et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http//creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.