COVID-19 to have 'disastrous' impact on millions of children: Report
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Millions of children would fall into extreme poverty because of the outbreak, which has left governments short of money for health and education for the young.
''Disaster'' is looming for millions of children as the coronavirus pandemic will making them more vulnerable to forced labour and underage marriage, a rights group has said as WHO warned of second peak.
According to Dutch NGO KidsRights ''this crisis turns back the clock on years of progress made on the wellbeing of children. Therefore, a strong focus for children’s rights is needed more than ever.''
Millions of children would fall into extreme poverty because of the outbreak, which has left governments short of money for health and education for the young, it added.
The annual KidsRights rankings used UN data to measure how countries measure up to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This year's survey, which does not take into account the pandemic, put Iceland, Switzerland and Finland top, with Chad, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone the worst-performing countries.
The suspension of vaccination campaigns for children also increased the risk of infant mortality, while hundreds of millions of children who normally relied on school meals were being left with no reliable source of daily nutrition.
The NGO’s warning came as the WHO emergencies head, Mike Ryan, spoke of a potential second wave of infections at any time, especially if measures to halt the first wave were lifted too soon.