PROtecting the WELLbeing of MIGRANTS in India during the COVID-19 pandemic (PROWELLMIGRANTS)

全世界约有10亿人生活在贫民窟，其中约占全球南部城市人口的30%-50%(Lilford等人。2017年)。在印度，与全球南方的其他国家类似，人们从农村地区迁徙到CITES寻找季节性工作后，往往在抵达CITES后在非正式住区定居。这些流动人口大多在非正规部门工作，被排除在医疗保健和社会保障体系之外。此外，污名、强迫疏散和结构性虐待造成了对政府的不信任(Ayeb-Karlsson等人)。2016、2020)。在印度，媒体已经报道了去年3月在孟买一个不到一平方公里、有2.3万人的贫民窟发生的第一起新冠肺炎病例。可以想象，世卫组织的新冠肺炎指南中规定的两米物理距离和20秒用肥皂洗手几乎是不可能的(Kluge等人)。本研究的目的是定性考察新冠肺炎对印度移民幸福感和心理健康的影响。由于突然封锁，印度的移民(主要是季节性和临时性的)受到了严重影响，他们是国家非正规劳动力的重要组成部分。许多人最终无家可归，因为他们被赶出了雇佣行业为他们提供的住宿。随着交通服务的关闭，他们被迫步行数周甚至数月才能回家。路障最终将他们困在州与州之间，迫使他们在人满为患的公共广场寻找避难所和食物。在此背景下，我们(1)调查印度整体应对新冠肺炎如何影响移民劳动力的心理健康和福祉；(2)检验对移民生计的冲击如何影响他们的福祉；(3)提出政策和实践建议，以加强现有的卫生系统，并更好地支持未来应对大流行。印度的背景和事件是一个重要的案例研究，以更好地了解大流行对全球南部社会引发的变化和冲击。印度政府因应对这一流行病的方式、缺乏对最脆弱人口的社会保护以及侵犯人权而受到全球批评。必须迅速和批判性地评估对移民的直接和长期影响，并特别注重精神健康、福祉和生计。这将有助于弄清目前需要哪些支持来解决生计和心理健康问题，以及未来如何改进地方、国家和国际应对措施。

About a billion people around the world live in slums, including roughly 30–50% of the urban population in the Global South (Lilford et al. 2017). In India, similarly to other countries in the Global South, people often settle down in informal settlements upon their arrival in cites after having migrated from rural areas in search for seasonal work. Most of these migrant populations work in informal sectors and are left out of the healthcare and social safeguarding systems. Further, stigma, forced evacuations and structural mistreatment cause mistrust for the government (Ayeb-Karlsson et al. 2016, 2020). In India, the media already reported the first case of COVID-19 in a slum with 23,000 people in less than a square kilometre in Mumbai in March last year. Imaginably, WHO’s COVID-19 guidelines of two metres physical distancing and 20 seconds of hand washing with soap was almost impossible (Kluge et al. 2020).The aim of this research is to qualitatively investigate the impact of COVID-19 upon migrants’ wellbeing and mental health in India. Migrants (mainly seasonal and temporary) in India who form a crucial part of the national informal labour forces were severely affected due to the sudden lockdown. Many ended up homeless as they were evicted out of accommodation provided to them by their employing industries. As transportation services shut down, they were forced to walk for weeks and months to get home. The roadblocks ended up trapping them in between states forcing them to seeking shelter and food in overcrowded public squares. In this context, we (1) investigate how the overall COVID-19 response in India impacted the mental health and wellbeing of migrant labours; (2) Examine how shocks to migrant livelihoods impacted their wellbeing; (3) Propose policy and practice recommendations that can strengthen existing health systems and better support pandemic responses in the future.The Indian context and events represent an important case study to better understand the changes and shocks triggered by the pandemic upon societies in the Global South. The Indian Government was globally criticized for the way they responded to the pandemic, for their lack of social protection of their most vulnerable populations and for violating human rights. It will be crucial to rapidly and critically evaluate the immediate and longer-term impacts upon migrants with a specific focus on mental health, wellbeing and livelihoods. This will help draw out what support is required to address livelihood and mental health concerns now as well as how local, national and international responses can be improved in the future.