Don’t let children be the hidden victims of Covid-19 pandemic: UNICEF

Not only are children and young people contracting Covid-19, they are also among its most severely impacted victims. Unless nations act now to address the pandemic’s impacts on children, the echoes of Covid-19 will permanently damage our shared future.
According to the UNICEF, some 99 per cent of children and young people under 18 worldwide (2.34 billion) live in one of the 186 countries with some form of movement restrictions in place due to Covid-19. “60 per cent of all children live in one of the 82 countries with a full (7 per cent) or partial (53 per cent) lockdown – accounting for 1.4 billion young lives, a press note from the UNICEF reads.
 “We know that, in any crisis, the young and the most vulnerable suffer disproportionately,” it reads, adding that the pandemic is no different. “It is our responsibility to prevent suffering, save lives and protect the health of every child and we must also ensure that risk-informed decisions on Covid-19 control measures are made based on the best available evidence in order to minimize and prevent any collateral damage, and to provide mitigation measures so the damage is not lasting.”
It starts with resisting the temptation, in times of potential global recession, to deprioritise investment in our future, it adds. “Increased investments now in education, child protection, health and nutrition, and water and sanitation will help the world reduce the damage caused by this crisis and avoid future crises.”
The world will open up again, and when that happens, the resilience of the weakest health systems will be the gauge of how well we will do against future threats, it hopes.
Countries and communities around the world must work together to address this crisis. “As we have learned painfully in the past two months, until there is a vaccine, coronavirus anywhere is a threat to people everywhere, the UN arm said, adding that they need to act now to strengthen health systems, as well as other child-focused social services, to keep track with global development priorities, in every country around the world.
This week, UNICEF is launching its global agenda for action to protect the most vulnerable children from harm. The agenda has six pillars, Keep children healthy; Reach vulnerable children with water, sanitation and hygiene; Keep children learning; Support families to cover their needs and care for their children; Protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse; and Protect refugee and migrant children, and those affected by conflict.
Without urgent action, this health crisis risks becoming a child rights crisis, it adds. “Only by working together, can we keep millions of girls and boys healthy, safe and learning.”
In health, Covid-19 has the potential to overwhelm fragile health systems in low- and middle-income countries and undermine many of the gains made in child survival, health, nutrition and development over the last several decades. “But too many national healthcare systems were already struggling. Prior to the Covid-19 crisis, 32 per cent of children worldwide with pneumonia symptoms were not being taken to a health provider,” it states. “What will happen when Covid-19 hits in full force? We’re already seeing disruptions in immunisation services, threatening outbreaks of diseases for which there already exists a vaccine, such as polio, measles and cholera.”
Many more newborns, children, young people and pregnant mothers could be lost to non-coronavirus related causes if national healthcare systems, already under great strain, become completely overwhelmed. Likewise, many nutrition programmes are disrupted or suspended, as are community programmes for the early detection and treatment of undernourished children. “We need to act now to preserve and strengthen health and food systems in every country around the world,” the UNICEF adds.
Likewise, protecting ourselves and others through proper handwashing and hygiene practices has never been more important. But for many children, basic water, sanitation and hygiene facilities remain out of reach. Globally, 40 per cent of the population – some 3 billion people – still lack a basic handwashing facility with soap and water available at home, and this is as high as nearly three quarters of the population of the least developed countries (LDCs).
The UNICEF has also urged to ensure that every household, school, and health care facility has the means to a hygienic and healthy environment.
In education, an entire generation of children have seen their education interrupted. Nationwide school closures have disrupted the education of more than 1.57 billion students – 91 per cent – worldwide. The closure of schools also eliminates access to school-based nutrition programmes, driving malnutrition rates upwards. An entire generation of students could suffer damage to their learning and potential. “The socio-economic impact of Covid-19 will be felt hardest by the world’s most vulnerable children,” it adds.
Many already live in poverty, and the consequences of Covid-19 response measures risk plunging them further into hardship. As millions of parents struggle to maintain their livelihoods and income, governments must scale up social protection measures – providing social safety nets and cash transfers, protecting jobs, working with employers to support working parents, and prioritising policies that connect families to life-saving health care, nutrition and education.
The UN secretary-general has launched a Global Humanitarian Response Plan for Covid-19.