“Hello South Asians” initiative provides free COVID-19 Info in 20+ South Asian Languages

Three postgraduate South Asian women – Serene Singh (University of Oxford), Ravina Anand (University of British Columbia), and Nandini Kochar (New York University Abu Dhabi), have created 100+ COVID-19 Informational Media Content and Infographics in 20+ South Asian languages with the help of students from over 53 countries worldwide in an aim to address misinformation, reduce panic, and provide free, accessible, and accurate content for South Asians everywhere.

Despite living in three different parts of the world, we have identified one common issue: South Asian families, parents, and youth are not getting correct information about the pandemic. This has manifested into many negative effects in our communities across the globe including panic attacks among other mental health issues, discrimination between South Asian community members and neighbors, and inadvertently making the job and responsibilities of public health workers more difficult in a multitude of ways.

With many South Asian families on social media platforms including Whatsapp group chats increasingly sharing contradictory and inaccurate information, this team of women sees this as a major threat to the public health systems and the mental health of South Asians globally in the coming future.

Singh states, “South Asians are remarkably diverse worldwide from every angle of the word – technologically, linguistically, culturally, socially, etc., but often live in shared areas. This means that any misinformation has intensified and echoed negative effects throughout communities. Without first having accurate information in the language of a community, our world can’t address the myriad of issues related to the pandemic we are now seeing. COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate and as such, neither should access to information about it.”

Moreover, the team is in the works of developing their Ambassador Program for young people around the world to get involved in the project from the comfort of their homes. With the accessible material made by Hello South Asians and the many translators, the Ambassadors will be tasked to ensure the safe and effective delivery of this information in their various communities.

This will require creativity and a diverse range of solutions to ensure those who cannot access the internet regularly and/or do not understand English can receive the necessary information to keep safe and stay positive in this difficult time.