As schools have closed their doors to most pupils to tackle the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, teachers and charities have expressed their fears about the plight of vulnerable children from poverty-stricken and chaotic homes.
Several months into the COVID-19 pandemic, I am thankful that the SARS-CoV-2 virus does not have as severe of an effect on children compared to older adults, and we know that most children who contract the virus will survive.
However, even if children are largely spared from direct effects, COVID-19 will still cause profound and long-lasting indirect impacts on children globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where the pandemic is straining already overburdened health systems and social protection infrastructure.
Concerns are mounting that most vulnerable children across the globe are already feeling the impacts of COVID-19 through measures taken to contain the spread of the virus, as economies contract, schools close, and access to essential health services becomes more difficult.
This virus has a way of magnifying existing inequities, and sadly the most vulnerable children and communities are likely to experience profound negative impacts. Worries are also rising about how families struggling financially will cope with providing food for their children without the provision of free school meals – particularly if schools are closed for a prolonged period.
The differential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on society needs to be acknowledged. While some of us are practicing social distancing and exploring work from home options aggressively in the hope of a better tomorrow, there is a possibility that a substantial number of children would emerge as victims of such apparently positive measures.
One impact would be an increase in the number of child workers. Along with the health crisis, and the economic and labour market shock that the pandemic has generated, the vulnerability of millions to child labour is another issue that merits serious attention.
The combined economic forces and school closures are also contributing to worsening food insecurity and malnutrition, with some of our centers already reporting increased numbers of malnourished children.
Hundreds of millions of children globally already live in extremely vulnerable conditions – crowded urban slums, refugee camps, conflict zones, and their challenges are compounded by the COVID-19 crisis.
The United Nations estimates that an additional 42-66 million children could tip into extreme poverty this year, adding to the already 386 million children living in extreme poverty worldwide. COVID-19 could also leave in its wake a new generation of orphans and vulnerable children, mirroring losses and challenges from the global HIV crisis, treatable illnesses such as diarrhea and malaria
Although tremendous strides have been made over the last decades in improving child survival, and the economic downturn combined with interruption in or difficulty accessing essential health services could cause major backtracking on child survival progress.
We therefore have much to learn from resource-limited settings, including important lessons on resilience, resourcefulness, innovation, and community-organizing, and drawing from rich bodies of experience in epidemic control in response to HIV, Ebola, and other infectious diseases.
We must put children’s safety and needs at the forefront of discussions to mitigate the current and future effects of the pandemic. The immense potential costs of increased child maltreatment should be considered in cost-benefit calculations of lockdown measures.
The social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are also being felt in communities across Africa. We know from the evidence and our experience that violence against women and children surges during emergencies. At the same time, the services and systems set up to respond to gender-based violence break down or become harder to access.
COVID-19 is altering family dynamics in ways that threaten to put already vulnerable children at increased risk of abuse and neglect, this could be catastrophic to children’s health and well-being globally, but it doesn’t have to be. Children around the globe are counting on all of us to advocate for them during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
As a global community, we all have the opportunity to be an important voice for vulnerable children worldwide. I also urge governments to work with social and health care providers to integrate children’s welfare in future risk reduction and preparedness #StopCOVID19 #Children #ChildrenSafety #HumanityandInclusion #HumanRights #SharedProsperity #Sustainability #Governance #FutureGenerations #SDG1 #SDGs #Health
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