During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the ARISE (Accountability for Informal Urban Equity) research team at the George Institute for Global Health India, as part of its ongoing work with waste picking communities in Vijayawada and Bangalore, and safai karamcharis in Shimla, India, has undertaken activities to raise awareness regarding the safe practices for protection against the COVID-19 on the basis of the guidelines issued by the government of India.

“With minimum job security and a non-existing safety net, these waste pickers depend on their daily wages for subsistence. The lockdown has laid bare the implications of extreme poverty.  Additionally, they do not have access to preventive information and the privilege to practise ‘physical distancing’ as they often live in crowded settlements and on pavements that lack minimum standards of hygiene and sanitation,” says Dr Surekha Garimella, Senior Research Fellow, TGI.

Amongst the approaches taken by the ARISE team members and the partner organizations - Safai Mazdoor Union in Shimla, Hasirudala in Bengaluru, and Dalit Bahujan Resource Centre in Vijayawada, includes setting up of a WhatsApp group, with few members from the communities, to share relevant IEC materials tailor-made for each region based on geography, language and the socio-cultural context in which these communities live.

The Safai Mazdoor Union in Shimla have been successful in arranging additional PPE and sanitisers for all the sanitation workers and door-to-door garbage collectors with the Municipal Corporation.

Hasirudala and Dalit Bahujan Resource Centre have also initiated distribution of meals and relief kits. These kits comprise rice, pulses, cooking oil, spices, and soaps. “Our objective is to support the waste picking communities and their families and to ensure that no one goes hungry,” says Mr Prasanna Saligram, another member of the ARISE hub, adding “We are also supporting the fund-raising efforts of our partner organisations to ensure the continuity of food supply for the waste pickers.”

As part of the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (People’s Health Movement), members of the ARISE Team and partners are advocating for system level interventions to minimise the community impact of COVID-19, especially isolation and quarantine of patients suspected of, or diagnosed with COVID-19 infection, and working with the private health sector to share the public health system responsibilities and duties of care in the current crisis.

Furthermore, ARISE partners have also set up an online mental health tele-counselling system in Bengaluru which offers community members tips on wellness and mental health. Persons seeking counselling are directed to make a missed call to the number, after which they are called back and given appointments for one-on-one tele-counselling with a trained counsellor.

“At this critical juncture, when COVID-19 is being harsh on the entire world and harsher on the poor, vulnerable and marginalised, it becomes all the more important to support these communities and protect their rights,” says Shrutika Murthy, another member of the ARISE team, calling on each and every person in the country to support the vulnerable and marginalised.

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As Australia’s governments and health systems grapple with the current health crisis, The George Institute is mobilising its talented researchers and other skilled staff to contribute to the collective response effort.

The Institute has a number of researchers who are also in clinical practice and we are actively supporting them to adjust their workload so they have more time available to spend in the health service where they are needed most.

In terms of research projects, we are supporting the Head of our Respiratory Program Professor Christine Jenkins in her role as Respiratory Specialist at Concord Hospital in Sydney to participate in a multicentre trial comparing antiviral and antimalarial drugs with standard care in people with COVID-19.

The Institute’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program team are working with communities and Aboriginal health organisations around culturally appropriate COVID-19 messaging and crisis response.

Our Honorary Professorial Fellow, Richard Lindley, a clinical academic and geriatrician at Blacktown Hospital, Western Sydney Local Health District, is part of a large team working with the Western Sydney Centre for Population Health to track the burden of viral diseases in aged care facilities in the west of Sydney. The study is looking at attack rate, hospitalisation, and death rates of viral respiratory infection outbreaks in adults aged over 65 years in these facilities. As this study has been running for a few years, it is now ideally placed to immediately track the COVID-19 pandemic in these facilities.

Meanwhile, many of our researchers have been working hard designing and supporting a range of research projects and submitting proposals to help further our understanding of COVID-19, particularly as it relates to other chronic diseases.

Recognising that the COVID-19 pandemic will require a large and ongoing research response as new treatments and vaccines are developed, we are also working to establish a registry of people who want to be involved in this vital research.

In the meantime, we are asking our George Institute experts, such as Prof Jenkins and Prof Alta Schutte, President of the International Society of Hypertension, to comment on topics pertinent to the particular risks for people with conditions like asthma and high blood pressure.

In addition, we are in ongoing discussions with NSW Health regarding the potential secondment of our talented staff to help boost their capacity as they respond to rapidly changing needs.

As the nation adjusts to the ‘new normal’ The George Institute is adapting to ensure we can continue to deliver on our mission to improve the health of millions of people worldwide, even in these challenging times.