By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, May 10: The COVID-19 pandemic is taking a toll on the mental health of the Nepali people. This is the major finding of the COVID-19 second social media survey 2020 conducted by the Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO) Nepal between April 23 and May 3.
According to the survey, which analysed the responses from 2,014 individuals residing in Nepal, 18 per cent of the people suffered from restlessness, 18 per cent from fearfulness, 37 per cent from anxiety and 29 per cent from sadness. The respondents reported experiencing these psychosocial problems always of most of the time in the last two weeks.
Furthermore, half of the respondents suffered from at least one of these problems while 32 per cent suffered from two or more. This is comparatively higher than the first phase of the study conducted between April 3 and April 10 in which the numbers stood at 42 per cent for one problem and 26 per cent for two or more.
In addition to the mental health status, one-fourth of the women who participated in the survey reported an increase in their workload during the lockdown period. Also, one in every 11 respondents reported violence in their community.
Moreover, a majority of the survey’s participants, 51 per cent, were not satisfied with the status of relief distribution, claiming that the process was unfair and that the aid was only given to selected people.
The survey concluded that the prevalence of psychosocial problems had increased in Nepal in the context of COVID-19 and the repeatedly extended lockdown. “This demands immediate action from the government and relevant stakeholders to address the issue,” it said.