The masks programme in Bangladesh reduced symptomatic infections by 9.3%, and by 34% among people over 60 who were given surgical masks rather than cloth ones
The usual methods for curbing the spread of covid-19 are less effective in South Asia, home to about 1.8bn people. Lockdowns work but devastate families and businesses. The region’s governments cannot afford to pay people to sit at home.
The results are encouraging. Proper mask-wearing among the intervention group tripled over the course of the study, to 42%. The rise was sustained over the two-month period of the study and lingered for another two weeks after reminders had stopped. Moreover, the masks programme reduced symptomatic infections by 9.3%, and by 34% among people over 60 who were given surgical masks rather than cloth ones.
The study’s authors found that it is possible to persuade people to wear masks with simple, low-tech measures: by supplying them free of charge, providing information about why wearing them properly is important and by having the message reinforced by role models. In rural Bangladesh a famous cricket player and the local religious leader did the trick. There was also a mechanism to reinforce good behaviour, in the form of someone in the village gently nudging the careless.
Hiring these nudgers is the biggest expense. The rest is cheap. Each surgical mask costs just five cents. Researchers found that although this type of mask is often seen as single-use, it is still effective after many washes, reducing the cost further. The model is “really big bang for your buck”, says Asif Saleh, the head ofThe organisation is rolling the scheme out to a whopping 80m Bangladeshis—about half the population—for the bargain-basement price of $6.5m, or $0.42 per person.
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Vaccines Slash Risk Of Long Covid From Breakthrough Infections, Study FindsI am a London-based reporter for Forbes covering breaking news. Previously, I have worked as a reporter for a specialist legal publication covering big data and as a freelance journalist and policy analyst covering science, tech and health. I have a master’s degree in Biological Natural Sciences and a master’s degree in the History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge. Follow me on Twitter theroberthart or email me at rhartforbes.com
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