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Policy Brief: COVID-19 & Urgent Need for Child-Sensitive Social Protection, June 2020

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World Vision
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The COVID-19 pandemic is negatively affecting children’s lives in a myriad of ways. Well-intentioned government containment and response efforts such as movement restrictions and school closures have disrupted education for more than 1.5 billion students, leaving some of the most vulnerable children without nutritious school meals and at heightened risk of dropping out when schools reopen. It has overstretched health systems, diverting health resources and capacity to COVID-19 response and limiting children’s access to critical primary health care and nutrition services that protect them against malnutrition and preventable deaths. It has significantly reduced or eliminated many parents’ and caregivers’ income earning opportunities, especially for those reliant on the informal economy and daily earnings, leading to reductions in the quantity and quality of meals for the poorest families, and forcing families to make risky choices in order to meet their basic needs.

Even before COVID-19 struck, 385 million children—one in five globally—lived in extreme poverty (less than $1.90 a day) and 689 million— almost half of all children globally—were living in multidimensionally poor households. Adding to this unacceptable situation, the UN estimates 42-66 million children could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis this year. Pandemic-induced poverty is exposing women and girls in particular to increased risks, including an exponential increase in gender-based violence and a surge in unpaid care work. Resultant household duress has also increased children’s exposure to violence, with prevention and containment measures placing millions of children at risk. World Vision estimates that in the next three months alone up to 85 million girls and boys worldwide may be exposed to physical, sexual and/or emotional violence while in quarantine, with millions more at risk of child labour and child marriage over the coming years as family livelihoods evaporate and economic crises ensue.