Authors: Pratibha J Mishra
The social work profession, more than any other, is most hurt by the rampaging corona virus (aka, COVID- 19) pandemic given the scourge’s pernicious impact on society’s underserved and undervalued populations. More so, the pandemic has undermined the profession’s historical value commitment to social justice and human rights while overturning our insistence on the importance of human relationships. The purpose of this essay is to explicate the nexus between social work and COVID-19 pandemic. While noting the deafening silence of the profession in the global discourse of the pandemic, it advocates for the urgency of our response if our profession is to attain significant public value amid the current loss of lives and threats to human rights. Strategies for our professional action, in curtailing the effect of the contagion, are laid out. Unless we expedite action to respond to the world’s major challenges, our profession could continue to be called to question, first, by critics, citizens, and then our client-systems and ultimately ourselves. Keywords: Public health challenge, COVID19, Professional action, Global pandemic, Human relationship social work.
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