Children and COVID-19 Research Library

Adolescents constitute 16% of the global population and are susceptible to adverse health and illness from substance abuse, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and high-risk sexual behaviors. This study aimed to assess the perceptions of good health, health-seeking behavior, and health service utilization among adolescents living in a low-income urban neighborhood after the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 23 adolescents, including 12 males and 11 females, were interviewed. Adolescents' perceived body image and size considerations apart from functioning at an optimum physical capacity as the principal attributes of good health, which was possible through the intake of a healthy diet and exercise. Adolescents were likely to be aware of the addiction potential and risk of cancer from using tobacco and alcohol, but attitudes towards eschewing their use were ambivalent. Adolescents perceived themselves as lacking access to reliable, adequate, and validated sources of sexual and reproductive health information. Knowledge and utilization of adolescent health services in this area were negligible, suggestive of the need to strengthen these services and improve the program outreach.

After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, our four study countries are each facing significant economic and social challenges, and rapidly changing circumstances. But COVID-19 is not the only global crisis; our evidence from Ethiopia reflects unprecedented times, as vulnerable families grapple with the compounding effects of civil conflict and climate change. This policy brief summarises key findings from the fifth call in the Young Lives phone survey, conducted between October and December 2021, and draws on previous COVID-19 calls, as well as longitudinal data collected since 2001 through regular in-person surveys. The brief builds on previous policy recommendations from our phone survey, highlights how the pandemic, alongside climate change and conflict, is continuing to have an adverse impact on the lives of young people in low- and middle-income countries, and presents emerging policy recommendations in response to this impact. Our analysis demonstrates that urgent action is required if we are to get progress towards the SDGs back on track.

COVID-19 has spread across the globe, resulting in significant changes in virtually every aspect of life. Mitigation efforts, like shelter-in-place orders, have taken a particular toll on parents who have had to navigate disruptions in work and/or school schedules. Research from high-income countries demonstrates increased parental anxiety, stress, depression, and burnout resulting from the pandemic. It is unclear if these outcomes are the same for parents in high-risk communities in low-income countries where pre-pandemic conditions were deleterious. This study addresses this gap and examines the mental health impact of the pandemic on parents in high-risk communities in Guatemala.

Although substantial progress has been made in many aspects of child health in the past two decades, the COVID-19 pandemic and its wide-ranging effects are threatening some of these hard-won gains. Public health measures such as lockdown, school closures, and restrictions in population movement—while necessary to halt virus transmission—are causing prolonged disruption to societal functioning and exacerbating inequalities worldwide. The global Human Development Index (HDI) is projected to decline this year for the first time since 1990, effectively erasing all progress in human development made in the past 6 years.With resources diverted to tackle the pandemic, many clinical and community health services for children have reduced in capacity. A modelling study by Timothy Roberton and colleagues in The Lancet Global Health estimated that a 9·8–18·5% reduction in coverage of essential maternal and child health services and a 10% increase in child wasting prevalence would lead to 42 240 additional child deaths per month across 118 low-income and middle-income countries.