Include Indigenous Peoples in Covid-19 response

KATHMANDU: In Nepal the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis has been especially hard on Indigenous Peoples (IPs). We had to learn a new vocabulary and use words like quarantine, self-isolation, hand sanitizers and physical distancing.

We also had to respect rules that did not previously apply to our lives. IPs are not used to washing their hands all the time because our culture is so much closer to Mother Earth and because much of the time we don’t have running water.