Need to work collectively to manage the crisis

On March 11, WHO declared Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak as a pandemic and reiterated the call for countries to take immediate actions and scale up response to treat, detect and reduce transmission to save people’s lives.

As of 24 April, a total of 17610 COVID-19 cases have been reported in 32 states/union territories, according to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW). These include 4748 who have been cured/discharged, one who has migrated and 718 deaths. Hospital isolation of all confirmed cases, tracing and home quarantine of the contacts is ongoing. On April 14, the Prime Minister announced the extension of the earlier 21-day nationwide lockdown till May 3, while on March19, the Telangana Government had extended lockdown till May 7.

Impact on children- UN assessment

Global economic downturn and loss of livelihoods aggravate child mortality besides disrupting child protection services in a significant way. UN estimates 42-66 million children could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis this year, adding to the estimated 386 million chil¬dren already in extreme poverty in 2019. Around 188 countries closed schools at various stages of academic year, affecting more than 1.5 billion children and youth. The loss of livelihoods could result in hundreds of thousands of additional child deaths in 2020, reversing the last 2 to 3 years of progress in reducing infant mortality within a single year.

The risks to child mental health and wellbeing are significant. Around 368.5 million children across 143 countries dependent on school meals for a reliable source of daily nutrition suffer rising malnutrition as they look now for other sources. Sixty per cent of world’s children living in full or partial lockdowns or temporary shelters face heightened risk of witnessing or suffering violence and abuse. Children living in unsanitary and crowded conditions such as refugee camps and internally displaced population settlements, are at considerable risk. According to Childline (1098 helpline) 92,000 new cases were reported during the first 11 days of the lockdown period.

Most affected indirectly by Covid-19 and at risk are children. As on date, the number of children who are medically affected by Covid-19 is comparatively low in relation to adults. They are deprived and adversely affected in terms of socio-economic hardship, learning environment, nutrition needs, basic health needs and child protection. The impact varies among social strata of the society. The impact on children of the parents from the organised sector will be comparatively lesser than the children from lower strata and un-organised sector who constitute 92 percent of the total workforce in India.

Impact on core sectors vis-à-vis children

According to Human Rights Watch (27 March 2020), “The lockdown has already disproportionately hurt marginalized communities due to loss of livelihood and lack of food, shelter, health, and other basic needs”. Lakhs of migrant workers out of work and no cash are stranded at Rail and Bus Stations and on the borders. Even private hospitals in smaller towns are closed, thereby affecting regular medical services to non-covid ailing population.

Most of the families from unorganised sector in dire straits owing to loss of work and no guarantee of job in future, are threatened of increased poverty, inadequate food and poor health. Even one nutritious meal offered in the Anganwadi Centres has stopped or replaced by take-home ration, which means the moderate acute mal-nutrition (MAM) will move to severe acute malnutrition (SAM), which may lead to more health problems among children and increase in infant mortality rate (IMR).

The loss of number of days of learning instructions for children, will not impact so much in India. The lockdown dates were closer to summer holidays in State Board schools, compared to CBSE and ICSE schools. The mid-day meal programme in schools has been an important additional nutrition support to large number of children of rural and urban poor households. Lockdown has seriously affected food security of the children enrolled in state schools.

Covid-19, has increased the awareness towards hand washing among all sections of the society, while it is becoming popular in the recent years in schools as part of School Sanitation and Hygiene Education. Now Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities like water supply, hand wash stations and toilets for schools and communities, schools and all public spaces is a major issue before authorities at all levels from panchayats to Municipal Corporations. With summer season being on, water scarcity could hinder the process of maintaining hand wash stations and ensuring clean and safe hands. Improvements in WASH infrastructure can boost effective management of water at schools, public spaces, health facilities and at homes. Covid-19 preparedness offers an opportunity to responsible authorities to strengthen the WASH system.