Profiles
Related Innocenti Project(s):
Structural adjustment in developing countries
Child welfare
Fiscal policy, poverty alleviation and equity
Structural adjustment in developing countries
Children in industrialized countries
Children in industrialized countries
Monitoring in the CEE/CIS and Baltics: the MONEE project
Social progress over the last 20 years: have all children benefited?
The new plague: HIV/AIDS, development and child welfare
Monitoring in the CEE/CIS and Baltics: the MONEE project
Giovanni Andrea Cornia
Former Chief of Unit (Former title)
Publications
Publication
COVID-19 and Children, in the North and in the South
This paper aims to document the likely direct and indirect impacts of the COVID-19 crisis in developed and developing countries. It also aims to identify potential urgent measures to alleviate such impacts on children. Thirty-three years after the UNICEF report, 'Adjustment with a Human Face', the authors warn of the effects of the pandemic which are likely to be considerable and comparable to the recession and debt crisis of the 1980s. The heavy costs for children can only be avoided with systematic and concerted efforts on the part of governments and the international community, to provide extensive financial and social support for the poor, and to invest in the health and education systems, in order to offset the negative impact of the virus-induced recession.
Publication
The Impact of the Food and Financial Crises on Child Mortality: The case of sub-Saharan Africa
This study presents an econometric model to estimate changes in the under-five mortality rate in a number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa over the years 1995-2007. The discussion centres on models with different specifications, and on the results obtained after testing several of them. The paper argues that initial models adopted to forecast the potential impact of the food and financial crisis overestimated the increase in mortality. However, the more complex tool presented in this study proves that under-five mortality rates have indeed increased (or declined less than predicted) due to the food and financial crises. The estimates provide signposts for remedies to protect children and their families when new shocks arrive.
Publication
Millet Prices, Public Policy and Child Malnutrition: The case of Niger in 2005
Severe food crises were common until the middle 1980s. Since then, they have been less frequent and until the sharp rise of food prices in 2007-8 the dominant perception was that, except in areas suffering from political instability, famines were slowly becoming a problem of the past. Niger’s 2005 events suggest it is too soon to claim victory. Indeed, between March and August 2005 the country was hit by a doubling of millet prices, and a sharp rise in the number of severely malnourished children admitted to feeding centres. This study concludes that the decline in food production invoked by many to explain the crisis does not help comprehending a complex crisis that can only be understood by examining the entitlement failures of several socio-economic groups, the malfunctioning of domestic and regional food markets, and policy mistakes in the fields of food security, health financing, and international aid.
Publication
AIDS, Public Policy and Child Well-being
This study addresses one of the greatest challenges of our time: the damage caused by HIV and AIDS to the well-being of children and families. The book reviews the community and public policy interventions introduced to moderate the impact of the disease on children and families, and discusses the advantages and limitations of such interventions.
Articles
Press Release
Indirect effects of COVID-19 will hit children hard in all countries
(Florence, 4 May 2020) A new Innocenti Discussion Paper, COVID-19 and children in the North and in the South, by Giovanni Andrea Cornia, Richard Jolly and Frances Stewart articulates important plausible theories about the direct and indirect impacts on children in both high- and low-income countries