Two years after the pandemic, there are an estimated 6.7 million children he lost at least one of his parents or caregivers because of COVID-19, according to updated research, marking a sad milestone in what officials have dubbed “the hidden pandemic.” This toll includes more than 180,000 children in the United States.
The figures come from a new model published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health magazine, which estimated orphanhood figures during the pandemic to October 2021. At the time, the study estimated that more of 5.2 million children had lost a father. or COVID caregiver, and the number has continued to grow ever since.
In the United States, a “real-time calculator” from the study’s authors estimates that more than 180,000 children have lost a parent or caregiver due to the pandemic. The US toll is above all, except for two other major countries, India and Mexico, which also recorded heavy losses due to deadly waves of the virus.
- Children face “pandemic mourning” after losing their parent or caregiver
“When we started this work, there were about 140 million orphaned children in the world. And that’s about 8 million a year orphaned. Now, with our updated estimates, we know that these numbers increase by about 30 % a year. “says Susan Hillis, now a senior research officer at Oxford University and lead author of the paper.
Hillis helped lead the study while working for the COVID-19 response of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, updating the initial model they had published with the World Health Organization and others in July 2021.
While researchers were able to refine their estimates based on new data documenting the pandemic’s deaths, they warn that global modeling remains “drastically underestimated.”
“For example, the WHO estimates that accurate data on COVID-19 deaths in Africa are limited and that actual estimates are likely to be 10 times higher than currently being reported,” said Drs. Julie Unwin of Imperial College London in a statement.
The study figures are combined deaths “directly by COVID-19” and the excess of deaths caused indirectly by the pandemic, as well as by the “decreased access to health services.”
To date, more than 5.9 million deaths have been officially reported from COVID-19 worldwide, according to the latest Johns Hopkins University count. The CDC has reported more than 930,000 deaths in the United States due to the disease, although the total number of deaths in excess since the start of the pandemic has already exceeded one million nationwide.
Beyond recalculating their original model, the study authors added estimates of orphanhood by age groups. Globally, they found that the highest proportion of children who lost a caregiver was 10 years or older. In the U.S. during the study period, an estimated 81,100 children 10 years of age or older died, also more than in younger age groups.
“We determined that not only was it important to update the figures because of the rapid pace of growth, but it was crucial to expand the type of data we were describing so that every country in the world had what they needed to integrate care. to children at the core of their VOCID response plans, “Hillis said.
Hillis and his team also previously helped lead a research published in December that examined orphanhood in the U.S. through June 2021 by state. At the time, this study found that orphanage rates varied significantly by race and ethnicity, with Native American and Alaska Native children being the most affected.
How these disparities could translate into long-term inequalities is not yet clear, which adds to a myriad of concerns that advocates have already raised about the impact of the pandemic on the well-being of American children and their children. mental health.
For example, while federal data released in November found that 2020 was the third consecutive year for the decline in the total number of children in foster care across the country, officials warned that the impact of the pandemic “still it was not clear “. A report funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found an increase in racial disparities in a foster care program, even when children in general declined.
A letter sent to President Biden last month by the nonprofit COVID Collaborative urged the White House to “form a comprehensive response” to support children who have lost a father to the pandemic. Signed by dozens of leading health experts, including a former White House COVID-19 official, the group warned that the loss had “disproportionately affected communities of color and other populations less prepared to respond.”
Hillis has it called above for the Biden administration to prioritize the study and approach of the problem, adding another pillar to the country’s COVID-19 efforts nationally and internationally. He said the US could “integrate a coordinated response” between government agencies and organizations.
“In the history of PEPFAR, we have helped to support as a people of the United States, through the generosity of the American taxpayer, some 7 million children orphaned by AIDS in Africa who have really needed financial support. , educational support, health support, psychosocial support in Africa. to survive, recover and thrive, “Hillis said.
“It’s ironic that we have about the same number of children now that we still have to do something to help,” Hillis added.
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