COVID-19 sustains a constant global increase in the number of Orphaned Children
Saravanan Thangarajan MDS, MBA
Maxillofacial Prosthodontist | Global Health Leader | Harvard Dean's Scholar | Climate & Health Advocate | Expert in Mental Health Integration, Equity & Crisis Preparedness | Wellcome Trust Advisor
At the point where parents' and grandparents’ deaths become the outcome of COVID-19, the pattern of kids distressed by orphanhood due to the absence of a parental figure is completely devastating. Day after day, the number of children impacted increases in every country. The loss of a mother, father, caregiver, or other relative is irreversible.
According to UNICEF, an orphan is a child who has lost one or both parents. A child with one living parent is nevertheless regarded as an orphan since the death of the other parent may have a significant influence on the child's well-being. What a child needs following the death of a parent or caregiver is dictated by the child's age as well as the late parent's gender. COVID orphaned more teens than younger children, according to previous research reported in the Lancet Child and Adolescent Health. Two out of every three children who lost their parents were predicted to be aged between 10 and 17.
In a paper published in JAMA Pediatrics, I came across a strangling statistic estimating that between January 2020 and May 2022, almost 10.5 million children lost either primary or secondary caregivers owing to COVID-related mortality.?Irrespective of gender, deaths can be associated with rapid and long-term family economic challenges in families where the principal earner dies, and the loss of a key socioemotional caretaker might impair societal connectivity. As per the review paper published in JAMA Pediatrics, Southeast Asia and Africa had the most elevated pace of misfortune, with one out of every 50 kids affected, contrasting with one out of every 150 kids in America.
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The findings were "sobering," according to senior author Susan Hillis, a former CDC epidemiologist currently at the University of Oxford, who encouraged international leaders to prioritize orphaned children by providing socioeconomic, educational, and mental health care. "When there are fatalities of this proportion, if you do not really look after the children today, you may surely undermine the structure of a society in the long run," Hillis said.
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Children who have lost a caregiver may experience bereavement, inadequate care, and isolation from other family members. They might have ended up with restricted access to food, help, and housing. They may be predisposed to abuse and exploitation.
Coping Strategies:
To begin, we must avoid the deaths of parents and caregivers through fair immunization programs, illness control, and treatment.
Second, we must plan for secure and nurturing family-based care via kinship, fostering, and adoption.
Third, we must safeguard foster children by implementing "substantial proof" solutions that address their higher risks of hardship and abuse in adolescence.
This type of treatment for children, in our opinion, should be promptly implemented into every nationwide strategic approach for combating COVID as well as other communicable disease outbreaks.
Whatever the child's age, the gender of the parent who passed, or the surge of sickness that rendered them an abandoned child, they remain a youngster who requires our assistance.
Childline 1098 is a phone number that spells hope for millions of children across India. It is a 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, free, emergency phone service for children in need of aid and assistance. They not only respond to the emergency needs of children but also link them to relevant services for their long-term care and rehabilitation.