# **1. Introduction**

SARS-CoV-2 is a major global threat to human health, with 36 million cases and 1 million deaths worldwide as of October 9, 2020.<sup>_1_</sup> Governments have sought to limit the spread of the virus and mitigate the negative health outcomes of the disease through various policy measures that have limited travel, imposed quarantines and lockdowns, and closed businesses and schools.<sup>_11_</sup> In addition to the economic burden of COVID-19 related morbidity and mortality, government attempts to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 are having profound economic impacts, with the global economy projected to shrink by 8%.<sup>_2_</sup> To date, the greatest health and economic burden has been borne by the Americas and Europe.<sup>_1_</sup> However, recent evidence indicates that low-income countries, with their limited health system capacities, are likely to suffer infection and mortality rates similar to or greater than those currently suffered by upper-income countries.<sup>_5_</sup> While research on the health impacts of COVID-19 in low-income countries is rapidly emerging,<sup>_3_</sup> there is limited evidence on the socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic.<sup>_4_</sup> The evidence that exists relies primarily on pre-COVID-19 macroeconomic data and simulation models to forecast potential future scenarios based on assumptions about the disease spread.<sup>_6_</sup> In contrast, we rely on direct measurements of socioeconomic indicators to present evidence on the effects of the pandemic on households, individuals, and children living in low-income countries, as well as the actions that households are taking to mitigate these impacts.

An acute challenge emerging from the global pandemic is how individuals and communities are to strike the balance between the health benefits and the economic costs of managing the spread of the virus.<sup>_11_</sup> Even in high-income countries, which tend to be data rich in terms of health and economic information, striking this balance frequently proves politically difficult. By contrast, low-income countries, which tend to be resource-constrained, are data poor in terms of reliable and timely information on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and on the economic impacts of anticontagion policies. Our objective is to directly, at the household, individual, and child levels, the socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic and the policies implemented to slow the spread of the virus. Our hope is to learn from how individuals in these four countries cope with the socioeconomic effects of the virus. This can inform decisions by governments and international aid organizations regarding how best to mitigate the persisting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

# **2. Data and Methods**

Our findings are based on the longitudinal data from the high-frequency phone surveys conducted in Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda with support from the World Bank. Starting in May 2020, every month, the phone surveys aim to interview a national sample of households that had been interviewed face-to-face prior to the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the national longitudinal household surveys that have been supported under the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) initiative.

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