Solidarity

Solidarity

Apr 16, 2021 | COVID-19, Newsroom

Author: Rui

The year 2020 has been far from the previous years we have been experiencing in our modern society, it was the year when the European solidarity was put to test.

Solidarity has always been receiving considerable collective attention in public debates during the last decade, the reasoning of various crises affecting Europe have put the perception of European solidarity under stress. Even more in the year of 2020 when the whole society was hit with the global pandemic, COVID-19, in which European solidarity became overwhelmed with difficulties. 

The pandemic situation we are still experiencing is causing an economic and social crisis with profound and devastating impact on many families. And, as we know, Europe did everything to quickly respond to the coronavirus crisis and has shown extraordinary solidarity to face the pandemic together and to protect the health of the European citizens.

“Unity is strength” as an official motto of European united countries was especially shown to up live to its expectation when a lot of resilience had to be demonstrated.

The resilience shown by Europe during the year 2020 encourages us to acknowledge the solidity of countries’ united foundations and contribution for European unity and wellbeing. 

Research shows that there is clear citizen support for solidarity actions and policies in Europe. There is strong evidence of attitudes supporting people in need, reduction of wealth inconsistencies and willingness to support other countries in financial difficulty.

Solidarity is one of the key phenomena studied in the social sciences. Research in sociology, economics, political sciences, and psychology, among others, has been inquiring for many decades into the forms and conditions of social integration and cohesion in order to better understand the social foundations of societies.

European solidarity actions exist, but they are strongly dependent on volunteers and civil society organizations and often manifest themselves at a local level without necessarily finding a strong European articulation. The fragility of solidarity requires a resilience building process to enable long term sustainability of social justice outcomes.

In one statement the Portuguese Internal Affairs Ministry said problems related to migration from outside the EU could only be solved with “solidarity between countries” but highlighted “such solidarity cannot be voluntary”.

“Flexible” but “mandatory solidarity” between EU countries is the key concept Portugal is pushing for, the ministry said.

In march of 2020 the catastrophic situation that was going on in Portugal, namely in Lagos, with many people losing their sources of income. From these concerns, an associative movement arose to feed people in serious need situations. In Lagos the main and predominant economic activity, directly and indirectly, is tourism which suffered a great deal. Around 60,000 people in Portugal who worked in this sector unfortunately have lost their jobs.

Portuguese Ministry of Solidarity, Labours, Social Security and Employment guarantees that every citizen enjoys the universal right to welfare and to retirement pensions. This ministry develops, implements and supports social actions and promotes equal opportunities in childhood, youth, active ageing, dependency and immigration among ethnic minorities and other groups in vulnerable situations. 

The Ministry approves and implements measures which support the family, help people make decisions regarding building a family and reconcile work and family life, and defend children and young people’s rights, preventing situations that might affect their safety, security, health, training, education or complete development.

At times like this Portugal is showing a good example of solidarity in practice to the rest of Europe and improving coherent behavior.

Even in hard times like this with global pandemic when there are a lot of expectations and where Europe is put under a lot of stress, countries stand united and are efficiently solving difficulties that came upon us, cooperating together and showing solidarity and unity to the world. We must remember that every difficulty will pass however hard it might seem and that after we will stand even stronger and more connected after everything.

Mental Health

Mental Health

Apr 16, 2021 | COVID-19, Newsroom

Author: Fernando

Faced with new realities of working from home, temporary unemployment, home-schooling of children, and lack of physical contact with other family members, friends and colleagues, it is important that we look after our physical health, but make an extra effort to care for our mental health. The mental health toll of COVID-19 is serious and unfortunately long-lasting for some people. It has had a major effect on our lives and still many of us are facing challenges that can be stressful, overwhelming, and cause strong emotions in adults and children. Public health actions, such as social distancing, are necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19, but they can make us feel isolated and lonely which can increase stress and anxiety.

It is normal to experience a wide range of emotions like fear, worry, and stress. These are normal responses to perceived or real threats, and at times when we are faced with uncertainty or the unknown, it is expected to feel such emotions. So, it is normal and understandable that people are experiencing fear in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

High levels of distress are being experienced by those who say the coronavirus outbreak is a major threat to their personal financial situation or to their personal health. Psychological distress is especially common among adults between 18 to 29, also with those with lower family incomes and those who have a disability or health condition that keeps them from participating fully in work, school, housework or other activities.

And with all of that, unfortunately the topic of suicide became a more heard topic in the news, as many people were severely affected by the pandemic and isolation and quarantine that came with it. As such, mental health became a topic of high importance. 

It was equally hard for children and adolescents, as it was for the adults to handle all the changes in their lives.  People reported feelings of depression, anxiety and with part of the population already suffering with mental health problems before the virus situation, matters only became worse. With economic difficulties on top of that, people were put under such difficult circumstances that many of them couldn’t see a brighter future.

People were searching for different solutions to cope with these hard times. From yoga and meditation, regular video calls with loved ones and therapy people were struggling with the whole situation but trying to cope with it all. Sharing their ways of coping with others, society was showing support like never before. At least we can say that mental health became even less of a taboo topic than before with people simultaneously working together to make a more positive impact and lessen the damage we experienced. 

Since the majority of us were spending a lot of time at home many of our regular social activities were no longer available to us. We should try to see it as a different period in our lives, and not necessarily a bad one, even if we didn’t choose it. Therefore, it was and still is important to focus on our mental health as we continue to be in a world pandemic situation. This is the best reason for us to cultivate a world where we are considerate about how we feel and how the people around us are handling the different challenges they are facing.  On that note COVID-19 mitigation measures present extraordinary challenges in mental healthcare delivery, posing high risk to the mental health of at-risk populations, namely patients diagnosed with COVID-19, frontline healthcare providers, those submitted to quarantine or isolation measures, as well as the general population. Ensuring safe and equitable access to mental healthcare by these groups entails resorting to innovative psychosocial intervention strategies, such as digital mental health. 

As we know the COVID-19 pandemic is a major public health emergency of international concern, however let’s proceed to examine the situation in Portugal. 

Because of the high unpredictability of the outbreak itself, and the uncertainty of its social-economic impact has led to widespread fear, anxiety, and social alarm, posing high risk to the mental health of the Portuguese population.

The first confirmed case was diagnosed on 2nd March 2020, and since then, the spread has been fast, contaminating a lot of people and causing a lot of deaths. 

Therefore, in Portugal, the government declared an emergency state in 18th March 2020, and measures, such as canceling gatherings and events, closing schools, limiting the number of people in public places, for example supermarkets, pharmacies and similar, also recommending social isolation, and mandating homework whenever possible have been taken to reduce contact rates in the general population and reduce transmission. Regarding suspect cases and diagnosed cases, a range of measures have been adopted, such as early identification, contact tracing and monitoring, self-isolation and mandatory quarantines.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a healthcare crisis in Portugal and continues to create chaos across the world. As we go forward with more protocols or less of them, we should always remember to keep in mind to be conscious of the state of our mental health and overall wellbeing of others. Being mindful and following government regulations should always be a priority in times like this.