Practically six million people have died in the world during the COVID pandemic, and this number is almost equal to the more than five million children who have lost a parent or grandparent to this disease since March from 2020 to October 2021. However, real-time data estimates that some 6.7 million children have been left simple orphans or have lost a family caregiver, a number that exceeds the number of fatalities during the pandemic.
Since the end of April 2020 and until the end of October 2021, the number of children who suffered the loss of one of their parents -what is called simple orphanhood-, or of a family caregiver increased by 90% according to research carried out by various universities around the world in 21 countries.
“By 21 October 2021 , there had been five million deaths from COVID-19 and approximately 5.2 million children had lost a parent or caregiver due to COVID-19. death associated with COVID-19. This finding means that, globally, for every reported death from COVID-19, at least one child experienced orphanhood or death. of the caregiver,” the researchers wrote in the study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. According to their data, in regions such as Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Eastern Mediterranean, the number of children affected by orphanhood exceeded the number of deaths from COVID.
Researchers point out that these conditions are a “hidden heartbreaking pandemic”, since globally and until 31 October 2021, almost 500,000 children under 5 were orphaned, followed by more than 735,000 children from 5 to 9 years old and more than 2.1 million children from 10 to 17 years.
Of them, near 800,000 children lost their mothers and nearly 2.6 million lost their fathers. The highest proportion of orphans among children from 0 to 4 years old and from 5 to 9 years old are found in Africa and America, while the highest proportion among those from 000 to 19 years it is found in Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.
“Our findings suggest an urgent need for pandemic responses to prioritize children affected by the death of parents and caregivers,” say the researchers, noting that children of all ages experience grief, inadequate care, changes in status surviving parent or caregiver, food insecurity, marginal housing and family disintegration, but their needs vary according to their age.
For example, the youngest bereaved children need immediate full-time care and ongoing support for early childhood development, and the quality of care affects their later development, health, and mental health. Adolescents face risks that vary according to their context, such as sexual violence, exploitation, HIV infection, suicide, child labor, teenage pregnancy, family separation, household poverty, and dropping out of school to care for younger siblings.
“Effective responses to COVID-19 must combine equitable access to the vaccine with programs based on in evidence for children in grief, adapted to the burden, geography, sex, age and circumstances of loss”, the study concludes.
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