Adolescents’ experiences of covid-19 and the public health response in urban Dhaka, Bangladesh

Covid-19 has rapidly disrupted the lives of individuals across the globe. While the direct health effects are largely concentrated among the elderly, the virus will almost certainly have multidimensional effects on young people’s wellbeing in both the short- and long-term. This fact sheet is part of a cross country series designed to share emerging findings in real time from quantitative interviews with adolescents in the context of covid-19. The young people involved are part of the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) programme’s longitudinal research in East Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

This fact sheet is a rapid snapshot of adolescents’ knowledge and attitudes towards covid-19 and presents key findings on the impact of covid-19 across GAGE’s capability domains: education and learning; health, nutrition, and sexual and reproductive health; psychosocial well-being; economic empowerment; voice and agency; and bodily integrity. This factsheet presents findings from GAGE’s ongoing longitudinal survey in Dhaka, Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, which follows 780 boys and girls in two cohorts (ages 10–12 and 15–17 at baseline in 2017). These adolescents come from three sites in Dhaka, including two peri-urban slum areas and one low income settlement in Dhaka.

Suggested citation

Oakley, E., Baird, S., Haque, M.A., Jones, N., Raihan, S. and Seager, J. (2020) ‘Adolescent realities during covid-19. Factsheet series. Adolescents’ experiences of covid-19 and the public health response in urban Dhaka, Bangladesh.’ London: Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (https://www.gage.odi.org/publication/adolescents-experiences-of-covid-19-and-the-public-health-response-in-urban-dhaka-bangladesh/)