Children and COVID-19 Research Library

Conflict, climate change, the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and fallout from the Ukraine crisis are interacting to create new and worsen existing hunger hotspots around the world. These overlapping crises are reversing the gains many families have made to escape poverty. While global food prices are now stabilising after reaching record highs, in many countries around the world, they continue to climb. High food prices are exacerbating existing humanitarian crises and putting the lives of millions of the world’s most vulnerable children at risk as policymakers are slow to take necessary large-scale action.

The COVID-19 health crisis has turned into a global economic crisis, putting at risk the health, jobs and incomes of millions of people across the world. The pandemic is becoming persistent and seemingly slow to eradicate, with medium and long-term consequences affecting the trajectories of the SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) targets across the countries. Better understanding of the implications of COVID-19 containment these measures for food systems, food insecurity and malnutrition is vital to prevent this global health crisis from becoming a food crisis and to rebuilt resilient food systems. The regional review presented in this report is broad-based but provisional since we are still dealing with an active pandemic having just moved past the fourth wave (dominated by Delta variant) and now facing a new variant, Omicron (whose real impact is still under review). As we approach 2022, the world is learning to live with COVID-19 and its variants for longer than initially believed. So the numbers related to COVID-19 infections and vaccination rates are only provisional and reflect the situation as of the time of writing.

African economies are facing a series of challenges to their post-pandemic recovery. Economic activity in the region is slowing to 3.3 percent amid global headwinds, including weak global growth and tightening global financial conditions. Elevated inflation rates and resulting policy tightening, as well as the rising risk of debt distress, are also impacting economic activity. While food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa was increasing before the onset of Covid-19, the pandemic and the food and energy crisis have contributed to the recent steep increase in food insecurity and malnutrition. Climate shocks, low productivity in agriculture, lack of infrastructure also contribute to rising food insecurity in the region. The economic fallout from the multiple crises affecting the region has lowered household incomes, increased poverty, widen inequality and heightened food insecurity. This report discusses short-term measures combined with medium- to long-term policy actions that can strengthen African countries' capacity to build resilience and seize opportunities to unlock productivity-enhancing growth while protecting the poor and vulnerable.

The outbreak of COVID-19, and the national-level lockdown to contain it, were expected to disrupt supply chains, lead to livelihood loss, and reduce household income. Studies anticipated a decline in food security in India, leading to a near famine-like situation. This study examines the change in Dietary Score (number of food groups consumed out of a possible eight) and proportion of respondents complying with Minimum Dietary Diversity norms (consuming at least four food groups) among women aged 15–49 years and their youngest child (aged between 7 and 36 months) during the lockdown. The present study also analyses whether ownership of ration cards and contacts with the party in power locally helped the household to tide over the crisis. The data was collected through a two-phase primary survey undertaken in January-March 2020 (pre-lockdown period) and October-November 2020 (post-lockdown period). It was undertaken in six districts of Bihar, a state with a history of poor maternal and child health outcomes and dysfunctional delivery of health services.

According to data released by the Ministry of Health in 2021 in Italy about three million young people suffer from eating disorders with onset before the age of 13 and the number tends to be increasing. This work aims to understand if and to what extent the areas of family functioning are related to the way of eating of adolescents in the period of restriction due to COVID-19. In particular, which dimensions of family functioning can be correlated with dysfunctional eating habits. The group that took part in the study was composed of 154 non clinical subjects, of which 124 females, 27 males and 3 non-binary gender subjects. The tests used were the McMaster Family Assessment Device and the Binge Eating Scale, in addition a personal data sheet was used containing the details of the subjects who participated anonymously, recruited at the university of Italy. The data have some limitations, first of all the low number of the sample and the online modality in compiling the tests.

The COVID-19 pandemic may negatively influence food parenting practices, also among parents of adolescents. Parental well-being (stress and depressive symptoms) may explain these COVID-19 related changes in food parenting practices (snack structure, healthy structure, modeling, autonomy support, and coercive control). However, most previous studies performed before or during the COVID-19 pandemic have been limited by cross-sectional designs. The aim of the current study among parents of adolescent children was twofold. First, it aimed to examine prospective differences in food parenting practices comparing the situation before and during COVID-19. Second, it aimed to examine both cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between parental well-being and the dimensions of food parenting, while additionally examining whether these prospective associations were more pronounced in parents who had experienced more COVID-19 stressful life events.

Evidence shows that numerous family-related variables influence parents’ use of different food parenting practices (FPP), but less is known about the influence of parents’ work-related variables on their use of FPP, and their own and their children’s outcomes in the food domain. To fill this gap, the present study explored intra-individual and inter-individual effects between work-to-family enrichment (WtoFE), parents’ monitoring practices, the adolescent’s perception of their parents’ monitoring practices, and the three family members’ satisfaction with food-related life (SWFoL), in different-sex dual-earner parents with adolescent children. The mediating role of monitoring between WtoFE and SWFoL was also tested. A sample of 430 different-sex dual-earner parents and one of their adolescent children (average age 13.0 years, 53.7% female) were recruited in Rancagua, Chile, during March and June 2020.

Studies have shown that obesity is associated with decreased executive function. Impaired executive functions lead to poor self-regulation, which in turn may result in persistence of unhealthy behaviors, including eating behaviors, throughout life. Increasing self-regulation in childhood and adolescence has positive effects on creating healthy behaviors such as reducing unnecessary eating and changing unhealthy eating habits. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate an intervention package based on cognitive self-regulation training in changing eating behaviors and reducing obesity in children and adolescents. Fifty-six students with obesity aged 12–16 years participated in the study in three groups (cognitive self-regulation training [CSRT], diet, and control). The CSRT group received twenty 30-min online training sessions with a diet over 10 weeks. The diet group received only a diet with no other intervention, and the control group did not receive any intervention.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected children across the planet and the consequences on their health, nutritional status, and social structure have been more pronounced in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This review will focus on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on infant growth and feeding practices and access to food and obesity prevalence among children in LMICs. An electronic search was performed on MEDLINE and Embase to identify relevant articles in the English language.

Universal school meals (USM) have the potential to increase access to healthy food for millions of U.S. students. This study evaluated school food authorities’ (SFA) perspectives of federal USM in response to COVID-19 (school year (SY) 2021–22) and California’s upcoming USM policy in the SY 2022–23. In February 2022, all SFAs in California (n = 1116) were invited to complete an online survey. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression examining differences by school demographic characteristics were used. Five hundred and eighty-one SFAs completed the survey; 63% of them first implemented USM during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The implementation of Clean and Healthy Lifestyle  in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic has become a serious problem in society. The application of clean and healthy living behavior in everyday life in the household can reduce the risk of disease and nutritional status in children. Achievement of optimal nutritional status can be influenced by several factors, namely direct, indirect and root causes. Direct factors consist of food consumption and infection status. Indirect factors consist of availability, food consumption patterns, hygiene, sanitation, and environmental health. The purpose of this study was to determine the Clean and Healthy Lifestyle  with Child Nutritional Status in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic. This study is a systematic review using online databases, namely Scholar, Sciencedirect, ProQuest, and EBSCO. The keywords used are clean and healthy living behavior, Child Nutrition Status, Covid-19 Pandemic.The selection process used the PRISMA protocol so that 15 articles were obtained that met the inclusion criteria.

Child hunger commonly occurs in families with household food insecurity when mothers fail to continue breastfeeding due to stress and inability to produce sufficient breastmilk. This study aimed to investigate the association of breastfeeding KAP with food insecurity during the pandemic of COVID-19. An online self-administered questionnaire related to the study was used to obtain data from 444 Malaysian 

The covid-19 has disrupted all parts of life especially maternal-child relationship. Many lactating womenwerequarantinedincovid-19whichhasaffectednourishmentoftheirinfant. Breastfeeding has innumerable benets for both mother and infants as it provides them protection. The Maternal-child relationship is drastically affected if an infant is separated from its mother. It greatly affects lactation, which acts as a shield against infectious diseases. It is approved by all the international agencies and government bodies to promote breastfeeding including the neonates of infected mothers. It is suggested to adopt proper hand and respiratory hygiene measures to prevent transmission from mother to infant. Although many studies and literature reviews have conrmed that there are no direct transmission cases related to coronavirus during breastfeeding. However, WHO, UNICEF, and many other organizations suggested to adopt some hygiene-specic guidelines while practicing lactation. These include wearing a mask, washing hands, and disinfecting surfaces. As we are in the middle of this pandemic and new information is being gathered by scientists, it is hoped that they will also support promoting breastfeeding. As its advantages outweigh the risks of COVID-19. The main aim of this review is to promote early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding during COVID-19.

COVID-19 pandemic has put a tremendous amount of stress on people, which can negatively affect nursing. Previous studies showed that perceived stress and cortisol levels in the postpartum period correlate with the LATCH scores, which is a simple tool to assess the pattern of nursing. Likewise, greater prenatal anxiety was associated with a shorter breastfeeding duration. This study aimed to evaluate whether pregnant women were under extra stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic and if this stress affected their breastfeeding patterns and anthropometric measures of the neonates. Pregnant women giving birth to healthy neonates were included. Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were used to assess the anxiety levels of the mothers, and LATCH breastfeeding assessment tool was used to assess the nursing. The results of these scales and anthropometric measures of the neonates were recorded.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, especially in the first wave of pandemic (March 2020), sedentary lifestyle and calorie intake increase in children became considerably more prevalent. The aim of the present paper was to evaluate changes in children’s weights and nutritional habits during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. In this cross-sectional observational study, for 3 years, as part of the corporate wellness program (2019–2021) in Emilia Romagna region of Italy, anthropometric data of Ferrari car company employers’ children were collected, analyzed, and compared. Moreover, at the visit of November 2020, performed after the first wave of the pandemic with the most rigorous lockdown rules in Italy, a questionnaire on nutritional and lifestyle habits was administered