ROUND 6 COVID-19 IMPACT MONITORING MAR 2021 BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has socio-economic impacts on Malawians and there is need for timely data to monitor these impacts and support response efforts to the pandemic. In May 2020, the National Statistical MALAWI Office (NSO), with support from the World Bank, launched the HFPS COVID-19; a monthly survey of a nationally representative sample of households previously interviewed as part of the Malawi Integrated Household Panel Survey to monitor the economic impact of the pandemic and other shocks . This brief pre- sents the findings from the sixth round of the Malawi High-Frequency Phone Survey on COVID-19 (HFPS COVID-19) conducted between December 10 and December 24, 2020. KNOWLEDGE, BEHAVIOR AND CONCERNS OF COVID-19 TRANSMISSION In December, about 79 percent of the respondents were The level of worry regarding either becoming seriously ill or very worried or somewhat worried about themselves or having household finances affected has been much lower in any member of the family becoming ill from COVID-19 which the last three rounds than it was when the survey was first is a slight increase by 2% points compared to November. rolled out in May. About 86% consider the crisis as a substantial or moder- ate threat to their household’s finance which represents a drop in comparison to the previous survey rounds. There was a significant increase in the share of respondents whenever they were in public. This reduced to 27% and 24% wearing masks in public at all times between July (19 percent) respectively in November and December. and August (56 percent). However, over the last few months In December, 29 percent of the respondents reported to have there is evidence that people have not been as diligent in always washed their hands after being in public. This was a wearing their masks whenever they are in public. In Septem- drop from 31 percent in November. ber, 47% of respondents reported that they wore a mask 1 COVID-19 IMPACT MONITORING ACCESS TO SERVICES In December, 40% of households needed to access medical services, and 5% of those that needed these services could not access them— mainly due to lack of funds. Of the services sought by the respond- ents, child health services was the most preva- lent (55%), followed by adult health services (46%) The Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) was introduced in Malawi to alleviate poverty and ensure food security for Malawians. In December, Respondents were asked if they registered for the AIP and 53 percent of the households re- ported to have registered for the program. The share of households that registered for the program but did not pur- chase inputs were slightly higher in urban areas (39%) than in rural areas (34%). EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT The first years of a child’s life are very important for tional content, support to children at home, child behavior all future development in all aspects of life. Many chil- and types of child discipline used at home. dren in Malawi face challenges in their formative The share of households whose children engaged with years possibly due to their primary caregivers not educational content is lower among poor households having proper knowledge on how to nurture child de- than rich households. With the challenges brought about velopment. In December, the survey asked households with by the COVID-19 pandemic preventive measures like closure children aged 2 to 10 years several questions relating to early of schools; these findings could suggest that many children are child development for a randomly selected child; such as own- not receiving the necessary attention they need to foster ership of selected household items, engagement with educa- their proper development.  21% respondents believe that in order to bring up, raise, or educate a child properly, the child needs to be physically punished. The incidence among urban households was higher (25%) than in rural households (20%).  22% reported that the selected child was defiant more than usual. The incidence among urban households was high- er (27%) than in rural households (21%).  20% reported that the child was withdrawn or very quiet more than usual. 2 COVID-19 IMPACT MONITORING  31% reported that the child spoke less well than they used to.  Overall, bad behavior portrayed by children is higher amongst poor households than richer households.  Caregivers were fairly involved in supporting their children; 64% told stories to the child, 71% sang songs to the child. MENTAL HEALTH Around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major categories: Not depressed; mildly depressed; moderately impact on the well being of people. There have been some depressed; moderately severe depressed; and severely de- interventions to curb the spread of the pandemic and while pressed. they are necessary, actions such as social distancing, closure 23% of respondents experienced varying levels of de- of schools among other measures have made people feel pression over the last two weeks from the interview isolated, some have had their sources of income affected date. Overall, depression is higher amongst the poorer which can lead to increase in stress and potentially depres- households (33%) than richer households (20%). sion. In December, the survey fielded the Patient Health Questionnaire - a widely validated 8-question scale for de- pression diagnosis, classifying respondents into following Data Notes: Malawi High-Frequency Phone Survey COVID-19 (HFPS COVID-19) is implemented by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on a monthly basis during the period of May 2020 and June 2021. The survey is part of a World Bank-supported global effort to support countries in their data collection efforts to monitor the impacts of COVID-19. The financing for data collection and technical assistance in support of the Malawi HFPS COVID-19 is provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank. The technical assistance to the Mala- wi HFPS COVID-19 is provided by a World Bank team composed of staff from the Development Data Group —Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) program and the Poverty and Equity Global Practice. In Round 1, 2,337 households that had been previously interviewed during the 2019 round of the Integrated Household Panel Survey (IHPS) were contacted, and 1,729 households were successfully interviewed, with the goal of re- interviewing them in the subsequent monthly HFPS COVID-19 rounds. 1,646 of these households were successfully interviewed in Round 2, 1,624 in Round 3, 1,618 in Round 4, 1,589 in Round 5 and 1,592 in Round 6. The 2019 IHPS data are representative at the national- and urban/rural-levels and phone survey weights were calculated (i) to counteract selection bias associated with not being able to call IHPS households without phone numbers, and (ii) to mitigate against non-response bias associated with not being able to interview all target IHPS households with phone numbers. For further details on the data, please visit https://www.worldbank.org/lsms-covid19 and email enquiries@statistics.gov.mw. 3