“What we're seeing is the desperation out there in the hospitals. We're seeing desperation in the communities. We're seeing even among our team being affected directly by it. At the same time, you know, we've seen communities come together.”
Yasmin Ali Haque has worked for the UN’s Children’s Fund, UNICEF for almost 25 years and is now the Country Representative in India. She explains how the current coronavirus situation there is driving some of the world’s poorest families back to negative coping mechanisms including a returning rise in child marriage. Involved in emergency response throughout her career, Yasmin was also working in Sri Lanka when the devastating tsunami hit in 2004 and shares some of the heartbreaking stories from the wreckage alongside her memories of growing up in a repartition camp in Bangladesh during the Indo-Pakistan war in the 1970s.
“When I talk to people in the community, whether it's a health worker or a mum or a dad or a grandparent, that's the reality check for me. Are we really doing what is needed the most?”