This compilation aims to provide readers with an insight into the diversity of Bangladesh’s experience in the first 25 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sixteen analytical snapshots examine how different populations adapted to the public health crisis. They highlight why an understanding of the socio-political and economic impacts of COVID-19 is necessary to inform and determine strategies for sustainable economic recovery, resilience and inclusive social development, and that for Bangladesh to thrive, universal public health and social protection systems must be the central focus of reforms and policy initiatives. This cross-institutional publication promotes a policy approach of active restraint to enable the presence of public goods provision, redistributive actions, macro-financial interventions, and structural policy reforms. By capturing the country’s initial response, this book provides a useful reference for policymakers, academics, and students interested in the intersection of social policy and disaster response in South Asian societies.

Contents
Overview
Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, Nichole Georgeou and Anis Chowdhury

Chapter 1: Class, Power and Inequality in Bangladesh
Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir

Chapter 2: COVID-19 Governance Catastrophe in Bangladesh
Khandakar Farid Uddin

Chapter 3: Public Health Preparedness and Response: A Human Rights Perspective
Md. Zobayer Hossain

Chapter 4: Resilient Transnational Social Activism in Bangladesh
Mubashar Hasan

Chapter 5: The Impact of the Pandemic on the Rural Economy of Bangladesh
Fahim Shahriar

Chapter 6: Impacts of the Pandemic on the Informal Economy
Md. Abdullah Al Mamun and Khandakar Farid Uddin

Chapter 7: Responses and Strategies of Actors in the Informal Economy
Md. Abdul Khaleque

Chapter 8: Urban Slums: A Multitude of Vulnerabilities
Adrina Ibnat Jamilee Adiba

Chapter 9: The Ready-Made Garment (RMG) Sector: Vulnerabilities and Resilience
Md. Juwel Ahmed Sarker

Chapter 10: Returned Migrant Workers: The Need for Psychosocial Support
Ahmed Abidur Razzaque Khan and Nichole Georgeou

Chapter 11: The Socio-economic Realities of Migrant Workers
Nazneen Sultana

Chapter 12: Peasants and Farmers: Impacts and Resilience
Wahid Haider

Chapter 13: Women's Responses, Rights and Resilience
Ruhun Wasata

Chapter 14: Elderly People: Vulnerabilities and Policy Failures
Md. Shah Paran

Chapter 15: Persons with Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Mostafa Walid Pasha

Chapter 16: The Pandemic and Rohingya Refugees
Md. Niamot Ali

Chapter 17: Afterword: Bangladesh's Response in the Global Context 127
Anis Chowdhury