Dr. Kasisomayajula “Vish” Viswanath, Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication, recently spoke with Communications’ Amy Roeder in the latest edition of The Big 3. In the interview, he details the current COVID-19 challenges in India.
“The number one challenge is density,” says Dr. Viswanath. “It’s one of the densest countries in the world. Not just in the street but in the way that housing is structured. It is not unusual for more than one family, families with multiple generations, to live together. This makes it very difficult to follow physical distancing mandates.”
Another challenge is India’s poor healthcare infrastructure — it is not robust enough to support its population of over 1.3 billion people.
Quotation edited for brevity.
