Our concern as professional Social Workers is centred on the following principles:
- Ensure equity, social justice and promotion of human dignity in the prevention and response measures against COVID-19.
- Ensure social system functioning at individual, family, community and institutional levels.
- Protection of the most vulnerable during the time of crisis and beyond.
- Upholding ethical standards in all actions while rendering assistance to those in need.
In practical terms, we recommend the following guidelines to all frontline staff comprising social workers and other social service workers, bearing in mind that COVID-19 will have a cumulative effect on individuals and communities culminating into social problems. If these issues are not carefully addressed, they could lead to increased spread of the virus and nationwide social breakdown; with far reaching consequences cutting across all aspects of people’s well-being, and exerting a disproportionate effect on national development goals:
