Very little has been done to support people with disabilities in Albania during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, despite many of them being at a high-risk from COVID.
This is according to a report by Together for Life, supported by the UK Government and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. Entitled “Impact of COVID-19 on People with Disabilities in Albania”, it seeks to provide an analysis of the economic and health situation of this category of individual in the country.
It found that there were 74,194 people in Albania who are categorized as living with a disability. With 19,874 carers, that equates to 3.7 carers per individual.
Overall, the pandemic has been a huge concern for people living with disabilities. The biggest fear of those who participated in the study was not being able to afford medicine. In fact, they were more scared of this than contracting COVID-19. Other significant fears included the inability to access help, deterioration of mental health, and isolation.
The report noted that the media had highlighted many of the issues facing people with disabilities during the pandemic such as lack of access to health services, financial difficulties, and other complex problems. Affected individuals also claim they were “left out” of actions and decisions taken by the government to help people cope with the pandemic.
Prior to the pandemic, 43.6% were unemployed while a quarter were in school. The rest were retired, working part-time, or working full time. But, following the start of the pandemic, 22% of those that were employed, lost their jobs and 40% said they were suspended.
But there was a big sex discrepancy when it came to those that found themselves unemployed. While 11% of men lost their jobs, 33% of women found themselves out of work. 26.7% of the total who remained employed saw their salaries decrease by up to 50%.
Sadly, 8/10 of those surveyed said they suffered direct financial hardship as a result of the pandemic. This was particularly prevalent in rural areas, followed by Durres and then Shkodra. They reported that low income meant they couldn’t afford living, food, and medicine. Other issues included additional expenses for medicines, food and detergents, as well as family members losing their jobs.
When asked if they had benefitted from the government financial package, 90.8% said they did not receive any assistance in either of the financial packages. IN terms of food and assistance from government institutions, only a quarter said they received something. 21.7% didn’t receive anything and the majority received help from NGOs and foundations.
Additionally, almosts 40% said they experienced delays in receiving their state disability payment. Almost half said this was because the state was late paying, others said that lockdowns meant they couldn’t go to retrieve it.
The pandemic also decreased accessibility to treatment. Attendance at residential centers, daily centers, community centers decreased significantly. Some 15% stopped treatment altogether.
In terms of isolation, the majority were isolated for three months while almost 15% have continued isolating since March. During this time, over a third said their condition deteriorated.
Another cause for concern was increased difficulties in accessing medicines. Out of those surveyed, over 70% found it hard to access medicine during the ongoing pandemic, compared to just 38% before. Their main barriers included fear of infection, not being able to afford treatment, lockdown measures, and no public transport.
For those that used outpatient care facilities, almost 80% said it was ineffective and not fit for purpose.
Three-quarters of those who took part said that the government’s response to the pandemic in the context of disabled people was ineffective. They said that to be more effective, the government must support them financially including pension, allowances, tax reductions etc Furthermore, measures like food insurance, health support, and assistance in obtaining medicines should be considered.
Sadly, almost 95% of people with disabilities said they experienced moderate to high levels of anxiety.
