At least 5 million children have lost a parent or caregiver due to COVID-19 since March 2020, updated figures suggest

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/944436

 

 News Release 24-Feb-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
The Lancet

 

The number of children estimated to have experienced the death of a parent or caregiver as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has surged to more than 5.2 million globally, according to a new modelling study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal.

Estimates of the numbers of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and caregiver death nearly doubled in the six months from 1 May 2021 through 31 October 2021, compared with the amount after the first 14 months of the pandemic (March 1, 2020 through April 30, 2021).

Globally, the new study suggests that two out of three children orphaned from COVID-19 are adolescents aged 10 to 17 years. Additionally, in line with evidence that COVID-19 deaths disproportionally affect men [1], three out of four children worldwide who experienced the death of a parent during the pandemic lost their fathers.

Overall, children who experience the loss of a caregiver have an increased risk of poverty, exploitation and sexual violence or abuse, HIV infection, mental health challenges and severe distress, and in some contexts, increased vulnerability to gang involvement and violent extremism.

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 “We estimate that for every person reported to have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, one child is left orphaned or loses a caregiver. That is the equivalent of one child every six seconds facing a heightened risk of lifelong adversity unless given appropriate support in time.

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