Social work and COVID-19 pandemic: An action call

• Published in: International social work Vol. 63; no. 6; pp. 753 - 756
• Main Author: Amadasun, Solomon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-11-2020; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Contagion; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Human rights; Overturning; Pandemics; Social justice; Social relations; Social work; Underserved populations; Urgency; COVID-19; professional action; social work; global pandemic; public health challenge; human relationships
• ISSN: 0020-8728; 1461-7234
• DOI: 10.1177/0020872820959357

The social work profession, more than any other, is most hurt by the rampaging coronavirus (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 flattening the curve of the contagion, are laid out.