Act to ease impact of pandemic on children
By Wang Le-Country Director Kenya and Madagascar
Children face multi-dimensional risks during infectious disease outbreaks. These include exposure to infection and indirect risks to their right to education and healthcare from policies implemented to reduce contamination and direct risks to their care and protection.
While current trends indicate that children are not among the most vulnerable group, more data is urgently needed to understand the nature of transmission and vulnerability of children to Covid-19.
The coronavirus is likely to have devastating effects to children, especially the poor and marginalised ones. There is evidence that the virus will have serious effects on already vulnerable children — including those battling pneumonia, malaria or malnutrition.
National healthcare systems are pivoting to respond to the outbreak while also still guaranteeing access to essential quality services that are critical for child survival. However, children’s health is often compromised as a result of reduced access to healthcare services, including disruption of routine immunisation and antenatal care, due to intense pressure on healthcare systems.
Other effects of the pandemic include severing children’s access to education and protection. With schools closed, there is a risk of increased cases of child abuse, violence and exploitation, even by parents and people known to them.
Those who rely on the school feeding programme will miss a meal or go hungry. For many children, these meals must now be provided at home, by caregivers who are already stretched financially.
Then there is interruption of children’s safe and appropriate care due to the absence or loss of primary caregivers, which also negatively affects their mental health and well-being.
Also, children already growing up in extremely difficult contexts just got another burden to cope with. Those outside of family care — including among street families, in institutions or detention and refugee camps — are particularly vulnerable, including to discrimination within the community.
Besides, millions of refugee children and displaced families, who live in overcrowded, often unhygienic areas with limited access to medical care, will not be in a position to isolate or distance themselves from others or comply with basic hygiene, including handwashing.
We must think about rapidly scaling up support to these vulnerable groups and providing the social protection that they urgently need. The poorest households — including those suddenly impoverished by this crisis and those who live on daily wages — will need support to survive this shock and ensure their most vulnerable members, children, are protected.
The lessons from this crisis will be many and far-reaching. We must continue supporting communities with information on how to stay safe and prevent the spread of infection. We must also adapt to responding to the new needs this creates and be prepared to respond in vulnerable communities that will be hardest hit in the coming period to efficiently and effectively safeguard the most vulnerable, including children.
This article was first published on the Daily Nation on April 13, 2020.
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