Investing in women and children

Even as South Asian countries continue to tackle the direct effects of COVID-19, there is a critical need for governments to address the severe long-term fallout from the pandemic. A new report released by several United Nations agencies show that due to the pandemic disruption to essential services and other contributory factors, an additional 228,000 child deaths, and more than 11,000 maternal deaths, occurred in the region in 2020 alone.

The report, collectively released by UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Population Fund (UNFPA), said that the impact also included sharp drops in the number of young children treated for severe acute malnutrition as well as in childhood immunizations. The number of children being treated for severe malnutrition fell by more than 80% in Bangladesh and Nepal, and immunisation among children dropped by 35% and 65% in India and Pakistan respectively.

The report also says that child mortality rose the highest in India in 2020 – up by 15.4% – followed by Bangladesh at 13%. Sri Lanka saw the sharpest increase in maternal deaths, 21.5%, followed by Pakistan’s 21.3%.

In addition, rates of under-nutrition, including anaemia, stunting and wasting are likely to increase due to the rise in food insecurity and poverty. In Bangladesh, for example, prospective data shows that the number of households experiencing food insecurity grew by more than 50% during stay-at-home orders implemented in March-May 2020.

The report recommends, given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, urgent and targeted action. All countries in South Asia need to continue, if not increase, investment in health systems, poverty alleviation and education. It is not enough to simply repair the damage sustained by our health and human capital due to the pandemic.

The region, including Sri Lanka, need to build back better, overcoming gaps in equity and addressing the needs of less advantaged populations. To address this challenge, UNICEF, UNFPA and WHO have called on South Asia’s governments and their partners to undertake critical public policy measures. 

These should include: prioritising longer-term investment in essential health services, especially for the most vulnerable members of society, with a focus on children and mothers; ensure uninterrupted and improved provision of vital maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health and nutrition services, including family planning, ante and postnatal care, and community-based health and nutrition support; ensure the safe reopening of schools, with increased focus on the enrolment of disadvantaged and vulnerable children; learning loss should also be addressed, and the opportunity taken to build back better with increasing use of technology and new partnerships.

Governments also need to help vulnerable populations address health issues and needs brought on or exacerbated by COVID-19 control measures, through the introduction and strengthening of social safety net programmes, especially for women-led households, people with disabilities and daily wage earners. Further, they need to increase the adoption of key COVID-19 prevention measures, including the use of masks and hand hygiene, which can lead to 400,000 fewer deaths in the region over the next year. Even with scaling up vaccines these will continue to be resource gaps that the Government will have to look at and intrinsically connect to economic growth to achieve sustainable development.