The United Nations continues to help its member states cope with the COVID-19 pandemic as Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlights risks for children around the globe.
In a policy brief about the pandemic’s impact on children, Guterres on Thursday warned about children’s education, food, safety and health. Safety concerns include domestic violence, abuse and the growing risks children are facing as they spend more time online.
“The poorest and most vulnerable members of society are being hardest hit, both by the pandemic and the response,” he said.
“Thankfully, children have so far been largely spared from the most severe symptoms of the disease. But their lives are being totally upended.” “I appeal to families everywhere, and leaders at all levels: protect our children,” Guterres said.
Almost all students are out of school, he said. But, distance learning is not available to all, and in countries with slow and expensive internet services they are severely disadvantaged.
Nearly half of the world’s total school children rely on school for daily nutrition, the UN chief noted. Children are both victims and witnesses of domestic violence, he said, and there is also a danger that girls will drop out of school, leading to an increase in teenage pregnancies.
The secretary-general warned that with children spending more time online they can become vulnerable to online sexual exploitation and grooming.
Reduced household income means essential health and food expenditures are cut, particularly affecting children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers, he said.
As health services become overwhelmed, sick children are less able to access care. There could be hundreds of thousands of additional child deaths in 2020, he warned.
Stephane Dujarric, Guterres’ chief spokesman, highlighted UN efforts in the fight against the pandemic. UN teams in 10 countries of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States have put together a preparedness and response plan, he told a virtual press briefing.
Those countries all have confirmed cases of the virus, and the new plan addresses immediate health needs and the broader socio-economic impacts of the pandemic.
Many of the economies are small, vulnerable and heavily dependent on tourism, he said. The plan aims to boost efficiency in purchasing quality products at better prices, including personal protective equipment, testing kits, and ventilators.
UN colleagues in Nigeria said they received a delivery of vital pandemic supplies sent on a flight funded by the company APM Terminals which included 10,000 testing kits, 15 oxygen concentrators, personal protective equipment, and vaccines. More supplies are expected to be delivered in Nigeria on a UN flight in the coming days, said Dujarric.
With over 260 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 10 million U.S. dollars have been allocated to support joint preparedness and response activities. The funds will be used to raise awareness about the pandemic in vulnerable communities.
They will also support efforts to foster community participation and engagement in prevention activities and to facilitate access to sanitation infrastructure in areas affected by the disease, the spokesman said.
In Burkina Faso, a fragile national health care system and massive displacements are increasing the risks of the spread of the virus, Dujarric said.
Almost 1 in 4 health centers is either closed or not functioning. Almost 800,000 people have been displaced in Burkina Faso, a challenge to epidemic control and response measures, he said.
The UN’s Humanitarian Country Team is engaging with the government to ensure the safety and continuity of the humanitarian response. Burkina Faso is the West African country the most impacted by the pandemic, with 8 out of 13 regions affected. As of Thursday, 542 cases have been confirmed and 32 deaths recorded.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka spoke with the UN Resident Coordinators leading UN work in 162 countries and territories.
Tedros said that coordination at the country level is the most important part of the work. Mlambo-Ngcuka said it is necessary to address the needs of women because they are disproportionately affected by the pandemic. She said that 70 percent of women in developing countries are in the informal sector and that women who work in hospitals are infected at higher rates than men.
A report from the World Tourism Organization said that as of April 6, 96 percent of all worldwide destinations have introduced travel restrictions in response to the pandemic. Head of the organization, Zurab Pololikashvili, said the pandemic has impacted travel and tourism like no other event in history. He added that with tourism suspended, millions of jobs could be lost.
