COVID-19 Could Prompt Sharp Rise In Child Mortality Rates In Nigeria - UNICEF

Posted by E.L.E.X on May 15 2020 under News

AN additional 950 Nigerian children could die every day from preventable causes over the next six months as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts routine services and threatens to weaken the country’s health system, UNICEF has warned.

The UN organisation also said that globally, an additional 6,000 additional children under five could die every day because of the impact of the pandemic.

Analysis

The estimate is based on an analysis by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published in The Lancet Global Health journal.

Responding to the Lancet analysis, UNICEF warns that disruptions to basic health services caused by the pandemic could result in potentially devastating increases in maternal and child deaths.

The analysis offers three scenarios of the potential impact of COVID-19 in 118 low- and middle-income countries, including Nigeria.

Worst-case scenario

In the worst-case scenario, the estimate is that an additional nearly 173,000 under-five deaths could occur in just six months, due to reductions in routine health service coverage levels – including routine vaccinations.

In Nigeria, these potential child deaths would be in addition to the 475,200 children who already die before their fifth birthday every six months – threatening to reverse a decade of progress in ending preventable under-five child mortality in Nigeria.

The under-five mortality rate has declined gradually over the last two decades in Nigeria – from 213 deaths per thousand in 1990 to 120 today.

Lifesaving interventions

This is likely due to improved access and coverage of key lifesaving interventions at primary health care and community levels and improved immunization rates.

But in countries with still overall weak health systems, like Nigeria, COVID-19 is causing disruptions in medical supply chains and straining financial and human resources.

Visits to health care centres are declining due to lockdowns, curfews and transport disruptions, and as communities remain fearful of infection.

Steady progress

Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Nigeria’s Country Representative, said: “We have made steady progress in reducing preventable child and maternal deaths in Nigeria over the last 20 years – and it would be devastating if that progress is lost or reversed – devastating for Nigerian families, communities and for the country as a whole.”

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said: “Under a worst-case scenario, the global number of children dying before their fifth birthdays could increase for the first time in decades. We must not let mothers and children become collateral damage in the fight against the virus.”

As well as Nigeria, UNICEF says the other countries that could see child mortality rates rise are Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania.