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Children and COVID-19 Research Library

UNICEF Innocenti's curated library of COVID-19 + Children research

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31 - 45 of 313
Water, sanitation, hygiene practices, health and nutritional status among children before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: longitudinal evidence from remote areas of Dailekh and Achham districts in Nepal

AUTHOR(S)
Akina Shrestha; Bal Mukunda Kunwar; Regula Meierhofer

Published: November 2022   Journal: BMC Public Health

The COVID-19 pandemic drew hygiene to the center of disease prevention. The provision of adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services is crucial to protect public health during a pandemic. Yet, access to levels of water supply that support adequate hygiene measures are deficient in many areas in Nepal. We examined WASH practices and their impact on child health and nutritional status in two districts before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A longitudinal and mixed method study was conducted in March–May 2018 and November–December 2021. In total, 715 children aged 0–10 years were surveyed at baseline. Of these, 490 children were assessed at endline. Data collection methods included observations, a questionnaire, stool analysis, anthropometric measurements, water quality analysis, and an assessment of clinical signs of nutritional deficiencies. We conducted 10 in-depth interviews to understand major problems related to COVID-19.

Strategies to improve adolescent food security from the perspectives of policy advocates, parents, and adolescents

AUTHOR(S)
Kaitlyn Harper; Rebecca Skinner; Michelle Martinez-Baack (et al.)

Published: November 2022   Journal: Nutrients
This study explored strategies to improve adolescent food security using semi-structured in-depth interviews with 9 policy advocates, 12 parents and 15 adolescents aged between 17 and 20 years, living in households who were eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 2020. This study was part of a larger evaluation of adolescent food insecurity conducted in Baltimore, Maryland, USA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three key strategies arose during analysis—improving federal nutrition assistance programs for households, federal nutrition assistance programs for individual adolescents, and leveraging school programs and resources. Respondents described concordant views regarding the role of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in supporting households but held discordant views about the role of other federal programs, such as the school nutrition programs and Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer program.
Effectiveness of the Eggs Make Kids demand-creation campaign at improving household availability of eggs and egg consumption by young children in Nigeria: a quasi-experimental study

AUTHOR(S)
Leila M. Larson; Edward A. Frongillo; Bezawit E. Kase (et al.)

Published: November 2022   Journal: Maternal & Child Nutrition
Using a quasi-experimental design, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of the ‘Eggs Make Kids Sharp & Bright and Strong & Active’ demand-creation campaign in Nigeria. The intervention arm received emotionally compelling radio and television advertisements about eggs, and was exposed to promotional activities and advertising about eggs at points of purchase, schools and health facilities; the comparison arm received no intervention. Children 6–59 months of age (intervention: n = 1359; comparison: n = 1485) were assessed 14 months apart. Intent-to-treat analyses with analysis of covariance method assessed the impact of the intervention on caregivers' behaviour towards eggs, caregivers' willingness to pay for eggs, availability of eggs in households, and consumption of eggs by children 6–59 months of age. Analyses were adjusted for possible confounders and perceived effects of COVID-19 on finances and food consumption.
Food insecurity and eating habits of Lebanese children aged 5-11 years during the COVID-19 pandemic and the socioeconomic crisis: a national study

AUTHOR(S)
Reine Gedeon; Souheil Hallit; Lara Hanna Wakim

Published: October 2022   Journal: BMC Public Health

Food insecurity is the lack of access to nutritious healthy food due to economic and financial insufficiencies. Food insecurity is expected to be higher during these difficult times in Lebanon, which is facing many financial, political, economic and health debates. The present study aims to find the prevalence of food insecurity among Lebanese children during the COVID-19 pandemic and its correlates. This cross-sectional study enrolled 4001 participants from all Lebanese governorates (March–April 2022). The Ministry of Education and Higher Education randomly disseminated the link to parents of children aged between 5 and 11 years from public and private schools.

Price shocks: rising food prices threaten the lives of thousands of children
Institution: World Vision
Published: October 2022

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.

COVID-19 pandemic impacts on Asia and the Pacific

AUTHOR(S)
A. Elbehri; T. Temel; F. Burcu Ceylan (et al.)

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.
Food system opportunities in a turbulent time

AUTHOR(S)
Cesar Calderon; Alain Kabundi; Kubota Megumi (et al.)

Institution: The World Bank
Published: October 2022
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.
Changes in dietary practices of mother and child during the COVID-19 lockdown: results from a household survey in Bihar, India

AUTHOR(S)
Zakir Husain; Saswata Ghosh; Mousumi Dutta

Published: October 2022   Journal: Food Policy
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.
Eating disorders: the role of the family in development and maintenance of children's problems in the pandemic period

AUTHOR(S)
Maria Rosaria Juli; Rebecca Juli; Giada Juli (et al.)

Published: October 2022   Journal: Psychiatria Danubina

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.

A longitudinal study on changes in food parenting practices during COVID-19 and the role of parental well-being

AUTHOR(S)
Junilla K. Larsen; Nina van den Broek; Maaike Verhagen (et al.)

Published: October 2022   Journal: Appetite
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.
Contributions of work-to-family enrichment to parental food monitoring and satisfaction with food-related life during the COVID-19 pandemic in dual-earner parents and their adolescent children

AUTHOR(S)
Berta Schnettler; Ligia Orellana; Edgardo Miranda-Zapata (et al.)

Published: October 2022   Journal: Nutrients
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.
Is online self‐regulatory training effective in weight control? A pilot experiment on adolescence obesity during coronavirus‐19 lockdown

AUTHOR(S)
Asiyeh Rezaei Niyasar; Alireza Moradi; Narges Radman (et al.)

Published: October 2022   Journal: Brain and Behavior

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.

Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on nutritional status, feeding practices, and access to food among infants and children in lower and middle-income countries: a narrative review

AUTHOR(S)
Paola Hong Zhu; Susan Nita Mhango; Anirudh Vinnakota (et al.)

Published: October 2022   Journal: Current Tropical Medicine Reports
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.
Providing school meals to all students free of charge during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: challenges and benefits reported by school foodservice professionals in California

AUTHOR(S)
Monica D. Zuercher; Juliana F. W. Cohen; Christina E. Hecht (et al.)

Published: September 2022   Journal: Nutrients
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.
Implementation of clean and healthy lifestyle behavior with children's nutritional status the during Covid-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
Cut Yuniwati; Fithriany

Published: September 2022   Journal: The Science Midwifery
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.
Cite this research | Open access | Vol.: 10 | Issue: 4 | No. of pages: 8 | Language: English | Topics: Health, Nutrition | Tags: child health, child nutrition, COVID-19 response, hygiene, lockdown, social distance
31 - 45 of 313

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COVID-19 & Children: Rapid Research Response

UNICEF Innocenti is mobilizing a rapid research response in line with UNICEF’s global response to the COVID-19 crisis. The initiatives we’ve begun will provide the broad range of evidence needed to inform our work to scale up rapid assessment, develop urgent mitigating strategies in programming and advocacy, and preparation of interventions to respond to the medium and longer-term consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. The research projects cover a rapid review of evidence, education analysis, and social and economic policies.