The hidden impacts of COVID-19 on children

Children of all ages and in all countries are being impacted. For some, the effects of COVID-19 will be with them for the rest of their lives. 

We talked to UNICEF Australia Program Manager for Early Childhood Development, Alice Hall, to discuss some of the significant impacts of COVID-19 on children. 

IMMUNISATION

Coronavirus has killed hundreds of thousands but it has also prevented thousands of people from protecting themselves from other diseases.

As families stay home to stop the spread of coronavirus, children are missing out on essential routine vaccinations against deadly diseases like measles and polio.  

“With any big emergency that reaches the community, we see access to routine healthcare take a huge hit and immunisation is a critical part of that,” Alice says.

“People have less access to information about when and if they should be vaccinated. Health centres are also overwhelmed and less likely to follow up when children miss their vaccinations.”

Countries like Papua New Guinea (PNG), which have had huge success over the past few years in boosting immunisation coverage, are expected to see a drop in routine immunisation numbers as a result of COVID-19. In many cases, essential outreach and mobile activities to reach children in the most remote communities are on hold. 

Vietnam and the Philippines have also postponed essential immunisation campaigns to boost coverage where there are large gaps.

“People are also hesitant to go to health centres because they are worried about maintaining safe healthcare with limited access to handwashing facilities,” Alice says.

Movement restrictions have also disrupted supply chains and the delivery of much needed medical products and vaccinations.

Since March, there has been a 70 - 80 per cent decline in planned vaccines shipments and 26 countries have been flagged as at risk for lacking stock for at least one vaccine. On top of this, training for health workers on how to administer vaccines as well as how to respond to COVID-19 have also been delayed.

“Regular training programs are really difficult to do now. How can we have virtual training when some health facilities don’t even have access to electricity?”

 

EDUCATION

Never in history has there been a time where so many school children have had their education disrupted. More than 190 countries have closed schools countrywide, affecting more than 1.5 billion children and youth globally. Across the Asia-Pacific region, 325 million students have been affected by school closures. 

“Previous emergencies have shown that when a child’s education is disrupted, particularly for a long period of time, they are less and less likely to return to school,” Alice says. 

Not only do they become disengaged with learning, but many take on added family responsibilities including work or caring roles for younger siblings or the elderly. 

For those students that do return, they will need accelerated learning to catch up on the parts of the curriculum that they have missed. 

“Even if the most high quality home-based learning has been delivered - which we know in many of these countries has not been possible - there has been some form of disruption to a child’s learning,” Alice says. 

“So a big focus for UNICEF's work is how we give teachers the skills to assist this learning and tailor this teaching for students to catch up with the curriculum.” 

CHILD PROTECTION

Closures to schools also puts children at risk of greater exposure to violence and sexual abuse. With most families staying at home, children have less, and in many cases no, access to outside contacts.  

“With the increased economic, social and psychological pressures that families are experiencing right now, many countries have reported increasing cases in domestic violence - that’s violence against children but also violence that children are witnessing at home,” Alice says. 

“This can be extremely damaging not only for their emotional wellbeing but also their cognitive development which can impact their whole life.” 

Alice says schools can be a protective place for children who are in need of support or a helpline. 

“We know a lot of students have expressed additional stresses as a result of COVID-19 and that’s due to uncertainty, loss of family income, experiences of violence in the home,” she says. 

“There are a lot of different things that could impact a student’s mental health and the school community can provide psychosocial support to cope with those stresses and recover.” 

UNICEF is working to improve access to child protection support for children, including supplying social workers with personal protective equipment (PPE) so that they can continue to provide support and care for children. We are also ensuring alternative care continues by providing children who can no longer be with their families with a safe place to go.