Pilot Project Report: Identifying the health, social and economic impacts of COVID-19 on young people in South Sulawesi

COVID-19 has brought unprecedented challenges worldwide. Our analysis focuses on four aspects of the pandemic’s impact on seaweed farming communities in Maros, Barru and Pangkep in South Sulawesi.

Firstly, we studied the impact of COVID-19 on household incomes and expenditure, using secondary data. In South Sulawesi, income increased by about 2 per cent compared with other provinces in Indonesia. However, household consumption decreased by about 3 per cent.

Download the full Pilot Project Report, ‘Identifying the health, social and economic impacts of COVID-19 on young people in South Sulawesi’, here

Secondly, we mapped the incidence of people with disability (PWD) in our study sites using the Village Potential Statistics (PODES) 2018 dataset. We found on average, villages in PAIR districts have more PWD compared to South Sulawesi (Figure 7). Every village in Pangkajene and  Kepulauan (Pangkep) municipality has PWD – an average of more than four per village, the highest of our three PAIR study areas. Some villages have more than three PWD and in one village there were 30 PWD.

Thirdly, we evaluated the impact of in-kind food subsidies (the Rastra  program, which provides rice) versus food vouchers (BPNT) on the dietary diversity of poor households. We found the provision of food vouchers via BPNT has improved the households’ consumption of essential nutrients, except daily fat, and increased the daily consumption of calories and carbohydrates. The impact on daily calorie intake was greater on BPNT participants than those receiving rice through Rastra.

Lastly, we used nationally representative data from the Indonesian Family Health Survey (2007 and 2014) to investigate the association between individuals’ socio-economic and demographic characteristics and poor mental health. Early results show a statistically significant and  positive relationship between poor health and mental health disorders. Females and unmarried individuals are more likely to report poor mental health.

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