ABSTRACT
This study examined the social impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Bangkok slum residents and the initiatives of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to relieve negative impacts. A mixed-methods study was conducted based on the Social Impact framework. In June 2020, a cross-sectional survey was carried out among 900 participants from nine slums in different zones of Bangkok. In July 2020, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 slum residents and four CSOs to gain in-depth information on the social impact of COVID-19 and CSOs' response. Out of 900 participants, 25.9% lost their jobs during the lockdown and 52.7% lost their income. The job and income loss increased the poverty rate within the participants from 51.6% to 91.7%. Participants limited their mobility and social activities during the lockdown. Stress was increased among 42.6% of all participants and the increased stress was associated with both income loss and self-quarantine. Due to financial constraints, a significant proportion of participants had to limit their food consumption and/or their consumption of nutritious but more expensive food. Almost one-tenth of the participants relied on donated food only. The majority of the participants (61.1%) could not access the income compensation scheme. COVID-19 forced Bangkok slums residents to live below the subsistence level in multiple ways with limited access to social protections. CSOs played an important role in relieving the suffering by providing food, survival kits, jobs, and access to COVID-19 test. Their agility, skills and knowledge about slums, and social capital enabled a rapid response to the crisis. Experienced local CSOs should be engaged as a bridge between urban slums and social protections. A holistic approach to combatting the COVID-19 crisis should be implemented. It is important to find the balance between preventing death from the virus and preventing suffering and death from an economic crisis.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In Thailand, the 2008 Alcoholic Beverages Control Act set the minimum purchase age (MPA) at 20 years old in order to limit new drinkers as part of the overall alcohol control effort. This study aims to assess the compliance of off-premise alcohol retailers with MPA restrictions and to identify factors affecting sales to adolescents. METHODS: A decoy protocol was used to quantify compliance of 417 alcohol retailers from three categories, namely grocers, modern minimarts and department stores. Multi-stage sampling was applied to obtain the samples in four provinces: Bangkok, Nakorn Sawan, Songkhla and Surin. Each alcohol retailer was visited twice by 17-19 year-old male and female adolescents who tried to buy alcohol. Information collected from focus groups and in-depth interviews with vendors and management officers were analysed for the qualitative methodology. RESULTS: Of all 834 buying attempts undertaken by the underage adolescent, 98.7% were successful in buying alcohol. Only 0.9% were asked for age and 0.1% were requested to show an ID card. Age and ID verifications were statistically significant to buying success as well as province, while number of vendors, gender and age of vendors and buyers, type of outlet, law cautions and advertisement signs in the outlet demonstrated no significant association. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that vendors fail to comply with the law despite the fact that they know the law. Enforcement needs to be strengthened to effectively limit new drinkers.