Although the COVID crisis in Canada remains serious, the situation in South Asia is much worse, especially for children.

“The lives and futures of children across South Asia are being torn apart by the COVID-19 crisis,” a bracing report issued by UNICEF South Asia stated earlier this summer.

“While they may be less susceptible to the virus itself, children are being profoundly affected by the fallout, including the economic and social consequences of the lockdown and other measures taken to counter the pandemic,” reads the report.

The report is entitled Lives Upended: How COVID-19 threatens the futures of 600 million South Asian children.

UNICEF warns that the secondary impacts of the pandemic could erase decades of progress on children’s health, education and protection in the region.

The report notes that approximately 240 million kids across South Asia experienced poverty in 2016. Flash forward to 2020 and UNICEF predicts that “COVID-19 could push an additional 120 million children over the poverty line within six months.”

The secondary impacts of COVID-19 tend to pose much greater threats to children in South Asia than the disease itself.

“Only a tiny number of children are so far infected by COVID-19,” states the UNICEF report, which was underwritten by a broad coalition of international partners, including, Canada, the World Bank and Global Partnership for Education.

However, illnesses and deaths from “other established diseases — such as wasting, pneumonia and measles — are rising as health facilities focus on dealing with the coronavirus.”

Newborn, child and maternal health-care services are being negatively affected by the pandemic as finite resources are reallocated to care for COVID-19 patients. Consequently, routine services have been suspended.

UNICEF projects that, in the worst-case scenario, an additional 881,000 children aged five or under could die in South Asia over the next year. Moreover, an additional 36,000 mothers could also perish over the next 12 months.

The pandemic is also inhibiting the global campaign to eradicate polio. UNICEF reports that “house-to-house immunization work in both Afghanistan and Pakistan — the only two countries where the disease is still endemic — had to be suspended to comply with COVID-19 restrictions.”

Child hunger and malnutrition are being exacerbated by the global health crisis.

Approximately 7.7 million children under the age of five suffer from “severe wasting.” And an estimated 56 million kids in that age group are stunted, which means that their bodies and brains may never develop as nature intended.

According to UNICEF, “the most malnourished children are feeling the impact hardest of all.” For example, 40 per cent of all children in Pakistan are stunted.

UNICEF is concerned that many disadvantaged students will never return to school. And an increase in the number of poor students dropping out of school will exacerbate a pre-existing learning crisis in South Asia.

In addition, UNICEF acknowledges that plans to reopen schools in South Asia “are complicated by the lack of handwashing facilities and the need to make the studying environment safe.”

The pandemic poses a different kind of danger for some kids — physical abuse at the hands of parents.

“Phone helplines are reporting more calls from children suffering violence and abuse,” UNICEF reports.

According to UNICEF, the “hidden suffering” of children is “being linked to a surge in cases of attempted child and adolescent suicide.”

Meanwhile, children living in camps for refugees and internally displaced persons have seen the withdrawal of “many of the services that protect them in normal times.”

UNICEF is calling upon governments, international organizations and the private sector to prioritize critical services and issue areas.

UNICEF stresses the importance of continuing or resuming vaccination programs to halt outbreaks of measles, cholera and other diseases. And the UN agency also places special emphasis on the need to address severe wasting in children.

As for schools, UNICEF urges reopening them as soon as possible “while ensuring the safety of students and staff through provision of adequate handwashing and toilet facilities and proper physical spacing in classrooms and other school venues.”

When it comes to child protection, the UN agency urges governments and their humanitarian partners to keep phone helplines open so that children can continue to call for help.

UNICEF recommends designating social workers as “essential staff to allow them to address cases of child abuse, domestic violence and psychosocial support.”

To learn more about COVID-19, child welfare and education in South Asia, please read & share: Children in South Asia suffering during pandemic https://www.thewhig.com/opinion/columnists/children-in-south-asia-suffering-during-pandemic/