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The health crisis “is rapidly turning into a child rights crisis. And without urgent action, another 6,000 children under the age of five could die each day,” he said. With a dramatic increase in the costs of supplies, shipping, and care, the agency’s appeal grew from a $ 651.6 million request made in late March, reflecting the devastating socioeconomic consequences of the disease and the growing needs of families. .
“Schools are closed, parents are out of work and families are under pressure,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said Tuesday. “By reimagining what a post-COVID world would look like, these funds will help us respond to the crisis, recover from its consequences, and protect children from its side effects.”
The estimate of the 6,000 additional deaths from preventable causes over the next six months is based on an analysis by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, published Wednesday in the Lancet Global Health Journal.
UNICEF said it relied on the worst of the three scenarios by looking at 118 low- and middle-income countries, estimating an additional 1.2 million deaths could occur in the next six months, due to reductions in routine health coverage and an increase in so-called child wasting.
Around 56,700 more maternal deaths could also occur in just six months, in addition to the 144,000 probable deaths in the same group of countries. The worst case scenario, of children dying before their fifth birthday, would represent an increase “for the first time in decades,” Fore said.
“We must not allow mothers and children to become collateral damage in the fight against the virus. And we must not allow decades of progress in reducing preventable deaths of children and mothers to be lost,” he said.
Access to essential services, such as routine immunization, has already been compromised for hundreds of millions of children and threatens a significant increase in infant mortality.
According to a UNICEF analysis, around 77 percent of children under the age of 18 worldwide live in one of 132 countries with COVID-19 movement restrictions.
The UN agency also noted that the mental health and psychosocial impact of the restricted movement, school closings and subsequent isolation are likely to intensify already high stress levels, especially for vulnerable youth.
At the same time, they argued that children living under restricted movements and socio-economic decline are at greater risk of violence and neglect. Girls and women are at increased risk of sexual and gender-based violence.
UNICEF noted that, in many cases, refugee, migrant and internally displaced children are experiencing reduced access to protection and services, while being increasingly exposed to xenophobia and discrimination.
“We have seen what the pandemic is doing to countries with developed health systems and we are concerned about what it would do to countries with weaker systems and fewer available resources,” Fore said.
In countries experiencing humanitarian crises, UNICEF is working to prevent transmission and mitigate side effects in children, women and vulnerable populations, with a special focus on access to health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education and protection.
To date, the UN agency said it has received $ 215 million to support its response to a pandemic, and that additional funds will help build on the results already achieved.
Within its response, UNICEF has reached over 1.67 billion people with COVID-19 prevention messages on handwashing and cough and sneeze hygiene; more than 12 million with critical supplies of water, sanitation and hygiene; and almost 80 million children with distance or home learning.
The UN agency has also shipped 52 countries, more than 6.6 million gloves, 1.3 million surgical masks, 428,000 N95 respirators, and 34,500 COVID-19 diagnostic tests, among other items.
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