December 09, (THEWILL) – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has described COVID-19 as the worst crisis it has seen in 75 years.
The Agency in a report released on Thursday observed that the pandemic has affected decades of progress on key childhood challenges including poverty, access to education, nutrition, and mental well-being.
The UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, said the widespread impact of COVID-19 continues to deepen, increasing poverty, entrenching inequality, and threatening the rights of children.
“While the number of children who are hungry, out of school, abused, living in poverty or forced into marriage is going up, the number of children with access to healthcare, vaccines, sufficient food, and essential services is going down. In a year in which we should be looking forward, we are going backward”, Fore said.
The report said 100 million additional children were estimated to now be living in multidimensional poverty because of the pandemic, a 10 percent increase since 2019.
In 2020, over 23 million children missed out on essential vaccines, an increase of nearly four million from 2019 and the highest number in 11 years, the report said.
Fore said in an era of a global pandemic, growing conflicts, and worsening climate change never has a child-first approach been more critical than today.
“We are at a crossroad, as we work with governments, donors, and other organizations to begin charting our collective path for the next 75 years.
“We must keep children first in line for investment and last in line for cuts. The promise of our future is set in the priorities we make in our present.”
