The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted the lives of children across the world. While children may be less susceptible to the virus itself, children are being profoundly affected by the fallout, including the economic and social consequences of the lockdown, closure of schools and businesses and the impact on livelihoods. From availability and access to life-saving health supplies, to water and hygiene facilities, to keeping children protected and connected, the challenges are manifold. In addition ,as the coronavirus has spread, so has misinformation, fueling discrimination and stigma.

Before inviting your thoughts on ‘Building back better’, let us take a brief look at how the pandemic has affected us. We urge you to scan the below content with an eye for solutions and ideas to build back better!

Concerns areas post COVID 19 :

• Health workers and health services are under tremendous stress
• Unavailability of hospital beds and proper treatment
• People are avoiding public health facilities for fear of infection
• Resorting to unsafe deliveries at home
• Rise in mental health issues including frustration, anxiety and depression among children.
• High costs of health care
• Rural families need to travel long distances for specialized medical care

A few glaring facts :

• 7.6% women in Odisha age 15-19 years were already mothers or pregnant at the time of the National Family Health survey-4 (2015-16)
• Infant mortality rate (IMR) was 40%
• Under-five mortality rate was 48%
• Only 25% children received a health check after birth from a doctor/nurse/LHV/ANM/ midwife/other health personnel within 2 days of birth

Concern areas post COVID 19 :

• Mid Day meals are not available to children as schools are closed since mid-March.
• School-based distribution of iron and folic acid supplements to prevent anemia is disrupted .
• Massive loss of jobs and high prices of nutritious food have made it hard for poor families to provide nutritious meals for their children
• Increased risk of malnutrition
• Anganwadis closed and young children (below 5 years) unable to get nutritious meals
• With job loss, purchasing power seems to be reduced among poor families!

A few glaring facts:

• Only 8.5% children in Odisha ,aged 6-23 months receive an adequate diet.
• 34.1% children under 5 years are stunted
• 20.4% children under 5 years are wasted while, 6.4% children under 5 years are severely wasted.
• 34.4% children under 5 years are underweight
• 44.6% children age 6-59 months are anemic

Concern areas post COVID 19:

• Clean water and sanitation hygiene have been a critical part of the pandemic response.
• Keeping the virus at bay is a huge challenge here, as millions of people live in homes that do not have basic hand washing facilities.
• People lacking access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene are more vulnerable to the infection
• Changing people’s behavior around good hygiene is just as critical.
• Not just households, but schools, offices, public places &healthcare facilities also require adequate water, sanitation and hygiene services.

A few glaring facts:

• While 88.8% households have access to an improved drinking water source, only 19 per cent of households have access to drinking water facilities within the household premises.
• Only 29.4% Households use improved sanitation facility
• The overall sanitation in coverage has increased in Odisha, yet people still defecate in the open in rural areas.
• Bringing about behaviour change towards promoting toilet usage and maintenance remains a challenge for the State.

Concern areas post COVID 19:

• More than 1 billion children are at risk of falling behind due to school closures aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19.
• Governments have been implementing remote education programmes but many children do not have access to computers, internet, TV or even radio.
• Children are married off and have to drop out from school. Children are also pushed in child labour.
• Vulnerable groups including girls, children living in remote areas and ethnic communities, and children with disabilities are worse effected.
• The effects of existing learning inequalities are far more visible now.
• For children of poorer families the risk of never returning to school is high.
• Another practical problem is, several hundred schools have been designated as quarantine centers.
• School feeding and nutrition programmes have been disrupted.
• Enforced confinement of children at home is leading to increase in cases of violence and abuse.

A few glaring facts:

• In 2012 alone, homicide took the lives of about 95,000 children and adolescents under the age of 20 – almost 1 in 5 of all homicide victims that year.
• Almost one quarter of girls aged 15 to 19 worldwide (almost 70 million) report being victims of some form of physical violence since age 15.
• Almost half of all child brides worldwide live in South Asia; 1 in 3 are in India
• According to data from Census 2011, the number of child labourers in India is 10.1 million of which 5.6 million are boys and 4.5 million are girls.
• Around 120 million girls under the age of 20 (about 1 in 10) have been subjected to forced sexual intercourse or other forced sexual acts at some point in their lives.
• Close to half of all girls aged 15 to 19 worldwide (around 126 million) think a husband is sometimes justified in hitting or beating his wife..

Concern areas post COVID 19:

• Many children, especially those from families of migrant labourers, continue to suffer from abuse ,uncertainty, stigma and discrimination even after they reached home.
• Increased risk of violence and exploitation to children due to economic uncertainty, job loss , disruption to livelihoods ,social isolation and confinement measures .
• Increase in instances of sexual violence as children are being locked down with their abusers, with nowhere or no one to run for help.
• Disruptions to the reporting and referral mechanisms of child protection services
• Children being pushed to child work so as to contribute to their families financially.
• Boys being engaged in child labour , girls are increasingly expected to perform household duties and chores.
• Child marriage being used as a coping mechanism to deal with unemployment crisis and economic uncertainty .

A few glaring facts:

• In 2012 alone, homicide took the lives of about 95,000 children and adolescents under the age of 20 – almost 1 in 5 of all homicide victims that year.
• Almost one quarter of girls aged 15 to 19 worldwide (almost 70 million) report being victims of some form of physical violence since age 15.
• Almost half of all child brides worldwide live in South Asia; 1 in 3 are in India
• According to data from Census 2011, the number of child labourers in India is 10.1 million of which 5.6 million are boys and 4.5 million are girls.
• Around 120 million girls under the age of 20 (about 1 in 10) have been subjected to forced sexual intercourse or other forced sexual acts at some point in their lives.
• Close to half of all girls aged 15 to 19 worldwide (around 126 million) think a husband is sometimes justified in hitting or beating his wife..
• https://scroll.in/article/978174/child-marriages-were-on-the-decline-in-odisha-then-the-covid-19-pandemic-struck

Source of data presented in the above facts:
NFHS-4 (2015-16)
https://www.unicef.org/india/where-we-work/odisha

We are aware that without urgent action now, decades of progress on children’s health, education , protection and other priorities are at the risk of being reversed. But this crisis has also presented opportunities to expose and tackle some of the longstanding challenges facing children, especially those from the most vulnerable communities.

Kallola 2020 invites your thoughts in the form of short scripts for videos /Radio Jingles to show us ways to build a world that makes children safer today, as well as tomorrow. Let your creation lead us to a more equitable, inclusive and greener world for all children, irrespective of their gender , caste ,religion or financial status. We look forward to your stories that focus on developing a system that upholds child rights and gives all children a joyful and safe environment so that they can grow into healthy and productive adults.