The coronavirus pandemic has driven at least 100 million children into poverty, 10% more since 2019, according to a report by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) released on Thursday (9), which states that this it is “the biggest threat in its 75-year history”.
In the period, the number of minors hungry, out of school, abused, living in poverty and forced into marriages has increased, highlights the organization in the report “Preventing a lost decade: Urgent action to reverse the devastating impact of Covid-19 on minors and young people”.
In addition, the number of children with access to health care, vaccines and essential services has also decreased.
“The Covid-19 pandemic poses the greatest threat to childhood in our 75-year history,” warned UNICEF Director Henrietta Fore.
“In a year that we should look forward to, we are going backwards,” he lamented.
The report states that 60 million more children than before the pandemic live in under-resourced homes. Furthermore, in 2020 more than 23 million did not receive essential vaccines, four million more than in 2019 and the highest number in 11 years.
Before the pandemic, a billion children around the world were in dire need and had no access to education, health, housing, sanitation or water.
The number increases and the distance between rich and poor minors is increasing.
More than 1.6 billion students were without classes, 13% of teenagers worldwide suffer mental health problems and more than 10 million marriages with minors could happen by the end of the decade as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The number of children forced to work reaches 160 million worldwide, 8.4 million more than in the last four years, and another nine million could enter the list by the end of 2022 due to poverty caused by the coronavirus.
At least nine million children could be added by the end of next year to the group of 50 million who are already suffering from the most severe form of malnutrition, also because of Covid-19.
In addition, 426 million children, representing one in five, live in conflict zones. Women and girls are victims of sexual violence.
And the impact of climate change also affects minors.
At best, reaching pre-pandemic child poverty levels will take “seven or eight years,” Fore said.
“Child care has never been as crucial as it is today.”
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