Children and COVID-19 Research Library

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, Pathfinder’s AmplifyPF program conducted a study across 17 urban and peri-urban districts in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, and Togo that assessed the influence of the crisis on family planning services. The study findings captured in this report show that family planning services were sustained at pre-pandemic levels. Governments took quick action to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, thereby keeping the levels of disruptions to delivery and use of essential health services below those anticipated. The study exhibits that maintaining continuity and use of family planning services during a pandemic is feasible when Ministries of Health act in collaboration with their partners to deliver an efficient, timely, and unified response that is accompanied by widespread, multichannel, supportive messaging.

This document describes the process and methodology used to develop the Analytical Framework, explains the different components and provides guidance on how it can be adapted for its application to different contexts for specific nutrition outcomes.

It is widely recognized that periods of crisis affect men and women differently, mediated by their access to resources and information, as well as social and institutional structures that may systematically disadvantage women from being able to access relief, institutional support, and rehabilitation. To capture the gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, this study conducted phone surveys in seven countries spread across Asia and Africa. The study was designed as a longitudinal panel study with five rounds of data collection in Ghana, Nepal, Nigeria, and Senegal, and three rounds of data collection in Kenya, Niger, and Uganda. Both men and women were administered the same survey, with some modifications made across countries to adapt to local contexts. This report gives an overview of our findings covering several topics including income loss, coping strategies, labor and time use, food and water insecurity and child education outcomes.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting economic crisis, UNICEF in the Republic of Moldova commissioned research to assess the impact of the reduced flow of remittances on families with children in the areas of health, education, nutrition and other child related social services, and to drive the development of an equity-focused and gender-sensitive midterm mitigation plan. The report revealed that worryingly, 15 per cent of households with children have even had to cut down on meals, especially expensive categories of food such as meat, fish, fruit and vegetables.

This analysis focuses on the following COVID-19-related impacts that could affect the well-being of children: disruption to education, rising unemployment, mental health and safety, and risks to nutrition.