Thirty million children’s lives are in danger because of the secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report warns.
Aftershocks, released today by international aid agency World Vision, reveals the threat of a lethal cocktail of disease, hunger and the collapse of healthcare systems.
Lives are at risk as more people are pushed into extreme poverty, the charity says. Alarmingly, these secondary impacts will threaten more children’s lives than coronavirus itself, and could lead to a catastrophic number of deaths.
The report analyses the devastating secondary impacts on children of the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak, and models what would happen if they were replicated in the current crisis. It focuses on these consequences in the 24 most fragile countries covered by the UN’s COVID-19 humanitarian appeal.
Key findings:
As many as 30 million children’s lives are in danger from secondary health impacts:
- 26 million+ children at greater risk of being exposed to other deadly diseases for lack of immunisation
- 5 million+ children could suffer from increasing malnutrition, an increase of almost 40% from current levels
- 100,000+ children could die from malaria, a 50% increase from current levels