COVID-19 is the worst crisis the United Nations Children’s Agency UNICEF has seen in its 75 years history, the agency said in a report released today.
UNICEF said COVID-19 was challenging decades of progress on key childhood challenges including poverty, access to education, nutrition and mental well-being.
UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, said the widespread impact of COVID-19 continues to deepen, increasing poverty, entrenching inequality and threatening the rights of children.
The report said 100 million additional children were estimated to now be living in multidimensional poverty because of the pandemic, a 10 per cent increase since 2019.
In 2020, over 23 million children missed out on essential vaccines, an increase of nearly four million from 2019 and the highest number in 11 years, the report said.
