Children and COVID-19 Research Library

Save the Children Somalia conducted a rapid assessment covering the entirety of Somalia between the 13th to 16th of April, 2020. The findings of the assessment will inform the defining and prioritizing of the RCCE strategy and key communication and community engagement plan; including contextualized key messages tailored to circumstances of vulnerable communities, defining key actions/activities, and tailor and test materials. Ultimately, the exercise will increase the effectiveness of our communication activities and therefore the impact of the overall response. Furthermore, meaningful participatory engagement and adapting messages to the local context and audience is also proven to lead to stronger ownership, buy-in, and commitment, as well as maintaining/increasing access, and strengthening the organization’s integrity and reputation. 

The connection between civic space, civil society engagement and access to healthcare has been sharply highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Civil society around the world has mobilised to bring attention to the needs of the most vulnerable people, and demonstrated the invaluable role it plays in addressing inequities and championing health for all. It is this commitment and zeal that will make UHC possible. This study sets out why accountability is vital to achieving universal health coverage. It also makes the case for protecting and expanding civic space as a way of encouraging civic engagement, resulting in accountability. We put forward recommendations to governments and global health actors to improve meaningful civil society inclusion in health governance.

Evidence and objective assessment are needed more than ever to help enhance the rights and well-being of the world’s children. Researching the changing world around us and evaluating progress are two sides of the same coin, both critical to reimagining a better future for children. In recognition of this, UNICEF celebrates and showcases innovative and influential research and evaluations from our offices around the world every year. For 2020, Innocenti and the Evaluation Office joined forces to find the most rigorous UNICEF studies with greatest influence on policies and programmes that benefit children.

The  COVID-19 pandemic has  created novel mental health challenges for  those with  pre-existing problems including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This study reports on clinician perceptions regarding the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with OCD receiving exposure and response prevention treatment (ERP) prior to and during the pandemic. Participating clinicians completed a survey which included questions adapted from National Institute of Mental Health-Global Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (NIMH-GOCS) and Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS).

During the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) emergency, in the pediatric surgical setting, it has been essential to avoid and contain infections as well as to protect both the patients and the surgical team. During this emergency, procedures and workflow were adapted to provide the safest possible environment for both the surgical team and the patients. Pediatric surgical activities were reorganized during the COVID-19 pandemic at the “Vittore Buzzi” Children’s Hospital, which is a pediatric/maternal hospital located in Milan (Lombardy Region), Italy. Resources were optimized in order to maintain high levels of care and quality of assistance. During the COVID-19 emergency, the pediatric surgical department at the “Vittore Buzzi” Children’s Hospital became an acute care surgical service.

The COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdowns fundamentally changed families’ everyday lives. This study aims to examine how families with children coped during the COVID-19 lockdown in Finland and what kind of coping strategies they developed. An online survey including both qualitative and quantitative questions was conducted between April and May 2020 to gather Finnish families’ experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown. Huston’s social-ecological theory was used as an analytical framework. 

Not only do epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), and the current Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) cause the loss of millions of lives, but they also cost the global economy billions of dollars. Consequently, there is an urgent need to formulate interventions that will help control their spread and impact when they emerge. The education of young girls and women is one such historical approach. They are usually the vulnerable targets of disease outbreaks – they are most likely to be vehicles for the spread of epidemics due to their assigned traditional roles in resource-limited countries. Based on our work and the work of others on educational interventions, this study proposes six critical components of a cost-effective and sustainable response to promote girl-child education in resource-limited settings.

This narrative review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of epidemiological, pathogenic and clinical features, along with diagnosis and treatment, of the  ongoing epidemic of new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the pediatric population in comparison to the first two previous deadly coronavirus outbreaks,  SARS and MERS.

In the midst of the devastating death toll and hospitalisations from COVID-19, the psychological effect of this unfolding pandemic on children has been unconscionably overlooked. The overwhelming media coverage and barrage of public health messages sustain a high level of physical and emotional threat within our communities, which is intensely observed by children. Age-appropriate explanations are paramount to ensure children have a coherent narrative and emotional support for their experiences. This need is magnified when someone in the family is hospitalised for or dies from COVID-19.

While remote learning measures are essential for mitigating the short-term and long-term consequences of COVID-19 school closures, little is known about their impact on and effectiveness for learning.

This working paper contributes to filling this gap by: 1. Exploring how disrupted schooling may affect foundational learning skills, using data from MICS6 (Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys - round 6) in 2017–2019; 2. Examining how countries are delivering and monitoring remote learning based on data from the UNESCO-UNICEF-World Bank’s National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures survey; and 3. Presenting promising key practices for the effective delivery and monitoring of remote learning.

Report on secondary transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in child care programs in Rhode Island.

Public trust in institutions in all parts of society is critical for health emergency preparedness. Leaders in government, science,public health,the private sector, international organizations, civil society,and the media are charged with identifying potential health risks and developing measures that will minimize their impact. But often, the threats are theoretical, something that may occur in the future, and difficult for many people to grasp as they address their very real day to day needs. It is only through empathy, accurate communications, community partnership, and effective actions that leaders generate the societal investments in resources and energy required to mitigate the effects of potential health hazards.Understanding the importance of public trust in institutions is especially critical during the COVID-19 outbreak,whose containment relies on the cooperative actions of business, NGOs,governments, communities and individuals.

The goal of the present study was to better understand the impact of the pandemic and associated response measures on vulnerable children and families and provide data-informed recommendations for public and private service providers working with this population.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, public services are having to rethink how they continue to operate and provide for those most in need of care and support. Amongst the most vulnerable groups, for reasons other than the virus, are children and young people known to children’s service departments. The role and statutory functions of children’s social care (CSC) set out in primary legislation have remained the same during the COVID-19 period1 but it has been necessary to find ways to fulfil these within very changed circumstances. This study was designed to examine the arrangements that were introduced during the period of the COVID-19 lockdown by working with 15 representatives of English local authorities to understand the changes put in place, how they had worked and what the legacy might be.

This paper is divided into two parts. The first details the evidence from the ground, painting the picture of life for children during the pandemic in different European countries with statistics and examples, and giving a set of recommendations on measures that national governments across Europe can take to help protect children from the worst impacts of the crisis relating to the economic impacts on families, loss of services, access to education and targeted measures for children in migration. The second part focuses on recommendations to the EU institutions on how EU policy and funding can support and complement these national-level actions in these challenging times.