UNICEF
Covid-19 puts future of 37 mn children in Bangladesh at risk: UNICEF, UNESCO
The education of 37 million children in Bangladesh and about 800 million children in Asia, including South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, has been disrupted due to school closures since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, says a new report.
In Bangladesh, schools were closed throughout the entire pandemic until 12 September, when they reopened again.
The report, ‘Situation Analysis on the Effects and Responses to COVID-19 on the Education Sector in Asia’ (SitAn Report), was released today by UNICEF and UNESCO on Tuesday.
Also read: Covid-19 put future of 800 mn children across Asia at risk: UNICEF, UNESCO
With schools now open in Bangladesh after an 18-month closure, we must spare no effort to rapidly put in place mechanisms that help children catch-up, keeping a particular focus on the most disadvantaged children, said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Representative to Bangladesh.
“Now is the time to invest, to strengthen the education system, and to bridge digital inequalities,” Yett said.
The report highlights the continued impact of the pandemic on children’s education and features various regional government’s programmes and initiatives to respond to it.
At a time of the year when children traditionally should have returned to school from annual holidays, the report urges governments to reopen schools as soon as it is safe to do so.
Marcoluigi Corsi, UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and Pacific said they cannot overlook the impact that the disruption of education services has had on children, particularly the most vulnerable.
When schools remain closed, children miss out on the biggest opportunity to learn and develop to their full potential.
Also read: UNICEF: Battered by pandemic, kids need mental health help
“The future of an entire generation is at stake; therefore, we need every effort to ensure a safe reopening of schools as soon as possible. Otherwise, the learning loss will be difficult to overcome,” said the UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and Pacific.
While countries across Asia are taking actions to provide students with distance learning, a UNICEF-supported study by the Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) showed that two out of three pre-primary to upper secondary students in Bangladesh were not reached through remote education during pandemic school closures.
In addition to the lack of material assets and support to access technology, other significant obstacles that prevent disadvantaged children, and many girls, from accessing distance learning during these difficult times include a generally poor learning environment, an increase in pressure to take up domestic household chores and being forced to work outside the home.
It also called on governments and partners to strengthen teaching and teacher support, so as to address current low levels of learning and help narrow the learning divide, and protect and preserve education funding.
“Governments, partners and the private sector will need to work together, not only to get the strategies and levels of investment right, but to build more resilient, effective and inclusive systems that are able to deliver on the promise of education as a fundamental human right for all children, whether schools are open or closed,” said George Laryea-Adjei, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia.
The increased risk of dropping out of schools due to the pandemic, especially for girls and children in poor and already marginalized families, threatens to reverse progress made in school enrolment in recent decades.
Shigeru Aoyagi, Director of UNESCO Bangkok said wile major efforts are needed to mitigate the learning loss of those children who return to school in the post-COVID-19 recovery phase, they must also remember that 128 million children in Asia were already out of school at the onset of the pandemic; this figure represents roughly half of all out-of-school children globally. “This is a learning crisis which needs to be addressed.”
Since the start of the pandemic, UNICEF and UNESCO have supported national governments to maintain and improve interventions to ensure continuity of children’s learning and to safely reopen and operate schools.
Covid-19 put future of 800 mn children across Asia at risk: UNICEF, UNESCO
The education of more than 800 million children – 400 million in South Asia, 260 million in East Asia and 140 million in Southeast Asia – across Asia has been disrupted due to school closures since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, says a new report.
More than 27 million children have been waiting for more than a year to return to their classrooms, according to the report, ‘Situation Analysis on the Effects and Responses to COVID-19 on the Education Sector in Asia’ (hereafter ‘Report’ or ‘SitAn Report’), released on Tuesday by UNICEF and UNESCO.
In Bangladesh, schools have been closed throughout the entire pandemic until 12 September, when they reopened again.
The Report highlights the continued impact of the pandemic on children’s education and features various regional government’s programmes and initiatives to respond to it.
At a time of the year when children traditionally should have returned to school from annual holidays, the report urges governments to reopen schools as soon as it is safe to do so.
Responding to the advent and spread of the pandemic in 2020, schools in Asia were fully closed on average for 50 per cent of teaching days.
Also read: UNICEF welcomes Bangladesh’s decision on reopening schools
In some countries, for example the Philippines schools have been closed throughout the entire pandemic to date, leaving an estimated 27 million students in pre-primary to secondary education without any in-person learning, a continuous period running from early 2020 to the present for over a year and counting.
Even now, as the world enters the last quarter of 2021, many children are facing an unprecedented second year of school closures as new variants of the coronavirus spread across the region.
The associated consequences of such continuous school closures are staggering and include learning loss; mental distress; missed school meals and routine vaccinations; heightened risk of drop out of structured education; increased, child labour; and increased child marriage.
Read: Schools, colleges to reopen on Sept 12: Dipu Moni
Many of these dire consequences are already affecting countless children, and many will continue to be felt in the years to come.
“We cannot overlook the impact that the disruption of education services has had on children, particularly the most vulnerable.
When schools remain closed, children miss out on the biggest opportunity to learn and develop to their full potential.
The future of an entire generation is at stake; therefore, we need every effort to ensure a safe reopening of schools as soon as possible. Otherwise, the learning loss will be difficult to overcome,” stated Marcoluigi Corsi, UNICEF Regional Director a.i. for East Asia and Pacific.
While countries across Asia are taking actions to provide students with distance learning, at least 28 per cent, or 220 million pre-primary to upper secondary students in the region, are not being reached.
In addition to the lack of material assets and support to access technology, other significant obstacles that prevent disadvantaged children, and many girls, from accessing distance learning during these difficult times include a generally poor learning environment, an increase in pressure to take up domestic household chores and being forced to work outside the home.
This is why the report underscores the importance of delivering equitable and inclusive distance learning at scale to reach all children during full or partial school closures, while providing a package of support to ensure children’s health, nutrition and wellbeing.
It also calls on governments and partners to strengthen teaching and teacher support, so as to address current low levels of learning and help narrow the learning divide, and protect and preserve education funding.
Unless mitigation measures are swiftly implemented, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates an economic loss of USD $1.25 trillion for Asia, which is equivalent to 5.4 per cent of the region’s 2020 gross domestic product (GDP).
Existing evidence shows that the cost of addressing learning gaps are lower and more effective when they are tackled early on in a crisis, and that ongoing investments made in education will support economic recovery, growth and prosperity.
“Governments, partners and the private sector will need to work together, not only to get the strategies and levels of investment right, but to build more resilient, effective and inclusive systems that are able to deliver on the promise of education as a fundamental human right for all children, whether schools are open or closed,” said George Laryea-Adjei, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia.
Estimates indicate that 4 per cent of schoolchildren in Asia are at risk of dropping out of school due to the pandemic – reversing progress made in school enrolment in recent decades.
According to the Report, education budgets in the region will need to increase by an average of 10 per cent to catch up with such losses if Asia is to reach the education targets of the UN 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals in the next nine years.
“While major efforts are needed to mitigate the learning loss of those children who return to school in the post-COVID-19 recovery phase, we must also remember that 128 million children in Asia were already out of school at the onset of the pandemic; this figure represents roughly half of all out-of-school children globally. This is a learning crisis which needs to be addressed,” said Shigeru Aoyagi, Director of UNESCO Bangkok.
Since the start of the pandemic, UNICEF and UNESCO have supported national governments to maintain and improve interventions to ensure continuity of children’s learning and to safely reopen and operate schools.
UNICEF and UNESCO would like to acknowledge the generous financial contribution of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), without which this SitAn would not have been possible.
Unesco-Bangabandhu Prize: Hasina to visit France in mid-Nov
Attending the COP26 in Glasgow, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to visit Paris, France in the second week of November to attend the prize-giving ceremony of “UNESCO-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman International Prize for the Creative Economy.”
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen shared the information while talking to reporters at his residence on his recent visits to Romania and Serbia.
Read: Ties with Bangladesh to grow: Nepalese FM
Asked whether the Prime Minister will hand over the award, Dr Momen said they want the Prime Minister to hand over it. “We want the Prime Minister to hand over the award. Unicef is hosting the programme.”
Tentatively, the event will be held on November 11, said the Foreign Minister about the US $50,000 Prize that will be awarded on a biennial basis, initially for three iterations of the Prize.
The first award ceremony will be held on the occasion of UNESCO’s 41st General Conference in November 2021 and subsequent award ceremonies will be held on the occasion of the Conference of Parties to the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
The Unesco-Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman International Prize for the creative economy will create a knowledge-sharing mechanism by capturing, celebrating, and communicating best practice in the development of creative entrepreneurship, according to Unesco documents.
The objectives of the Unesco-Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman International Prize for the Creative Economy are in line with strategic objective 8 of Unesco's Medium-Term Strategy for 2014-2021 and with the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
The prize will be fully managed and administered by Unesco.
Meanwhile, Dr Momen said Romania has shown interest to recruit around 40,000 workers from Bangladesh.
Read: Bangladeshi’s conviction: FM says evidence to be shared with Saudi govt
Finally, Covid jabs reach remote riverine islands of Kurigram
Notwithstanding the supply constraints, Bangladesh's Covid vaccination campaign reached the remote riverine islands of Kurigram on Tuesday morning.
The health department, in collaboration with Unicef and the district information office, took this initiative, with an aim to get the vaccination rate up in the district.
More than a thousand people got their first Covid shots at the government-run Sardob Primary School, where a vaccination centre has been set up, reports our local correspondent.
Read:Vaccination campaign for school students to begin within a week: DGHS chief
UNICEF: Battered by pandemic, kids need mental health help
Governments must pour more money and resources into preserving the mental well-being of children and adolescents, the U.N.'s child protection agency urged in a report Tuesday that sounded alarms about blows to mental health from the COVID-19 pandemic that hit poor and vulnerable children particularly hard.
The United Nations Children’s Fund said its “State of the World’s Children” study is its most comprehensive look so far this century at the mental health of children and adolescents globally. The coronavirus crisis, forcing school closures that upended the lives of children and adolescents, has thrust the issue of their mental well-being to the fore.
UNICEF said it may take years to fully measure the extent of the pandemic's impact on young people's mental health. Psychiatrists quickly saw signs of distress, with children and adolescents seeking help for suicidal thoughts, anxiety, eating disorders and other difficulties as lockdowns and switching to remote learning severed them from friends and routines and as COVID-19 killed parents and grandparents.
Read: Young children's diets could get worse under Covid: Unicef
“With nationwide lockdowns and pandemic-related movement restrictions, children have spent indelible years of their lives away from family, friends, classrooms, play — key elements of childhood itself,” said UNICEF's executive director, Henrietta Fore.
“The impact is significant, and it is just the tip of the iceberg,” Fore said. “Even before the pandemic, far too many children were burdened under the weight of unaddressed mental health issues. Too little investment is being made by governments to address these critical needs.”
Pediatric psychiatrists say they were already short of resources before the pandemic brought a surge in caseloads. UNICEF said spending on promoting and protecting mental health “is extremely low” yet the needs are pressing. Citing pre-pandemic figures from 2019, UNICEF estimated nearly 46,000 children and adolescents ages 10 to 19 end their own lives every year.
The scale of pandemic-related distress among children and adolescents has jolted some governments into action. France, which is hosting a two-day global summit on mental health this week, has offered free therapy sessions for children and young people and pledged to extend that help from next year to everyone with a doctor’s prescription. Elsewhere, counseling hotlines — some newly opened to help people struggling with their mental health during the pandemics — saw surging demand.
UNICEF said multiple worries affect the mental health of children and adolescents, including anxieties over possible illness, lockdowns, school closures and other upheavals in their lives. Lockdowns also fueled behavior problems, and were particularly hard-felt by kids with autism and attention and hyperactivity disorders, UNICEF said.
Remote learning was beyond the reach of hundreds of millions of young people. One in three schoolchildren couldn’t take part because they had no internet access or television, UNICEF said. Children in the poorest families were most affected. It estimated that two out of five children in eastern and southern Africa were still out of school as recently as July.
Read:1 million Afghan children could die from malnutrition: Unicef
Even when they haven't been forced to drop out of school and work to help make ends meet, children also are being hit by the pandemic’s destructive repercussions for jobs and economies. UNICEF said the crisis has triggered “a sharp uptick” in numbers of children in poverty, with an additional 142 million children thought to have slipped into poverty last year.
Financial hardship and school closures could also put more girls at risk of being forced into early marriage as child brides, UNICEF warned.
Although children and adolescents have been less likely to die from COVID-19 than older and more vulnerable people, UNICEF cautioned that the pandemic has clouded their long-term future and “upended their lives, and created real concern for their mental health and well-being."
“It will hang over the aspirations and lifetime earnings of a generation whose education has been disrupted,” it said. “The risk is that the aftershocks of this pandemic will chip away at the happiness and well-being of children, adolescents and caregivers for years to come.”
26 ultra-low temp freezers 'boost Bangladesh's vax storage capacity'
Twenty-six ultra-low temperature freezers delivered by UNICEF through COVAX are enabling Bangladesh to receive, store and distribute large quantities of COVID-19 vaccines that require ultra-cold storage, according to the UN agency.
Each of the 26 freezers can hold over 300,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, supporting administration of these jabs into districts beyond Dhaka.
In fact, the recent COVAX shipment of some 2.5 million US-donated doses of the Pfizer vaccine is made possible, thanks to this additional ultra-cold chain capacity.
“As more countries come forward through COVAX to ensure equitable access to the vaccines, increasing the ultra-cold chain capacity in receiving countries is of crucial importance,” said Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF representative in Bangladesh.
“UNICEF, as an implementing partner of COVAX, will continue to support Bangladesh until the end of the pandemic. No one is safe until everyone is safe,” he added.
The delivery of 26 ultra-low temperature freezers to Bangladesh is part of UNICEF’s global target of delivering 350 ultra-low temperature freezers to more than 45 countries on behalf of COVAX.
READ: Dhaka to receive 7.90 lakh AstraZeneca vaccine doses Saturday
This is an immense and unprecedented undertaking to develop national cold-chain capacities in order to accelerate the number of fully vaccinated people in the shortest possible time.
As of today, only 9 percent of the population in Bangladesh has been fully vaccinated, according to UNICEF.
COVAX aims to ensure equitable access to vaccines and supplies, particularly to low and middle-income countries.
“WHO highly appreciates COVAX for extending its support to the Government of Bangladesh,” said Dr Bardan Jung Rana, WHO Country Representative.
“Ensuring global access to Covid-19 vaccines offers the best hope to slow down the pandemic, save lives and secure the world economic recovery. Each of these freezers will play a key role in improving the country’s ultra-low cold chain vaccine storage capacity. Ensuring that vaccines reach everybody, everywhere is the top priority and a critical step towards health for all. We cannot afford to leave anyone behind,” he added.
READ: Am I fully vaccinated without a COVID-19 vaccine booster?
Vaccines and supplies through the COVAX facility to low- and middle-income countries, including Bangladesh, are generously supported both by donor pledges and by direct donations.
UNICEF and WHO call on the continued and greater support to COVAX from donors and from countries that have already achieved high coverage.
Pandemic pushes poorest kids into child labour
The Covid-induced disruption to schools -- considered agents of change in Bangladesh -- and a sharp rise in poverty have literally deferred the dreams of millions of children in this country.
Many of these school dropouts have been pushed into child labour in order to support their families, notwithstanding the fact that the practice is illegal in Bangladesh.
A reality check by UNB in the Demra Staff Quarters area of Dhaka revealed the plight of these children, aged between 7 and 11 years. We spotted kids working as vehicle helpers for as low as Tk100-150 daily.
Read: Child labour begins to creep back up after two decades: UN agencies
Young children's diets could get worse under Covid: Unicef
Children under the age of two are not getting the food or nutrients they need to thrive and grow well, leading to irreversible developmental harm, according to a new report released by Unicef Tuesday.
The crisis of children's diets in early life – released ahead of the UN Food Systems Summit this week – warns that rising poverty, inequality, conflict, climate-related disasters, and health emergencies such as the Covid-19 pandemic, are contributing to an ongoing nutrition crisis among the world's youngest that has shown little sign of improvement in the last ten years.
"The report's findings are clear: When the stakes are highest, millions of young children are being fed to fail," said Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
"Poor nutritional intake in the first two years of life can irreversibly harm children's rapidly growing bodies and brains, impacting their schooling, job prospects and futures. While we have known this for years, there has been little progress on providing the right kind of nutritious and safe foods for the young. The ongoing Covid-19 disruptions could make the situation much worse."
In an analysis of 91 countries, the report finds that only half of children aged 6-23 months are being fed the minimum recommended number of meals a day, while just a third consume the minimum number of food groups they need to thrive.
Further analysis of 50 countries with available trend data reveals these poor feeding patterns have persisted throughout the last decade.
As Covid-19 continues to disrupt essential services and drives more families into poverty, the report finds that the pandemic is affecting how families feed their children.
For example, a survey conducted among urban households in Jakarta found that half of the families have been forced to reduce nutritious food purchases. As a result, the percentage of children consuming the minimum recommended number of food groups fell by a third in 2020, compared to 2018.
Read: 1 million Afghan children could die from malnutrition: Unicef
Children carry the scars of poor diets and feeding practices for life. An insufficient intake of nutrients found in vegetables, fruits, eggs, fish and meat needed to support growth at an early age puts children at risk of poor brain development, weak learning, low immunity, increased infections and, potentially, death.
Children under the age of two are most vulnerable to all forms of malnutrition – stunting, wasting, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity – as a result of poor diets, due to their greater need for essential nutrients per kilogram of body weight than at any other time in life.
Globally, Unicef estimates that more than half of children under the age of five with wasting – around 23 million children – are younger than two years of age, while the prevalence of stunting increases rapidly between six months and two years, as children's diets fail to keep pace with their growing nutritional needs.
According to the report, children aged 6-23 months living in rural areas or from poorer households are significantly more likely to be fed poor diets compared to their urban or wealthier peers. In 2020, for example, the proportion of children fed the minimum number of recommended food groups was twice as high in urban areas (39 per cent) than in rural areas (23 per cent).
To deliver nutritious, safe, and affordable diets to every child, the report calls for governments, donors, civil society organisations and development actors to work hand-in-hand to transform food, health and social protection systems by leading key actions, including increasing the availability and affordability of nutritious foods – such as fruits, vegetables, eggs, fish meat and fortified foods – by incentivising their production, distribution and retailing.
The report notes that progress is possible with investment. In Latin America and the Caribbean, for example, almost two thirds (62 per cent) of children aged 6–23 months are fed a minimally diverse diet, while in Eastern and Southern Africa (24 per cent), West and Central Africa (21 per cent) and South Asia (19 per cent), less than one in four young children are being fed a minimally diverse diet.
In all regions, investments are needed to ensure that all children benefit from the diverse diets they need to prevent all forms of malnutrition, and grow, develop and learn to their full potential.
"Children cannot survive or thrive on calories alone," said Fore. "Only by joining forces with governments, the private sector, civil society, development and humanitarian partners, and families can we transform food systems and unlock nutritious, safe and affordable diets for every child."
UNICEF welcomes Bangladesh’s decision on reopening schools
UNICEF has "wholeheartedly" welcomed the decision by the government of Bangladesh to reopen schools.
“Together with other development partners, we will continue to work closely with the government to keep schools open safely," said Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh on Sunday.
Read: Schools, colleges to reopen on Sept 12: Dipu Moni
Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni said on Friday said primary, secondary, and higher secondary educational institutions in the country will reopen on September 12.
“The decision was taken in a joint meeting of the Education Ministry, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and the National Technical Advisory Committee held on Thursday night,” she said at a function in Chandpur Sadar upazila.
UN Resident Coordinator in Dhaka Mia Seppo joined the UNICEF in welcoming Bangladesh decision to safely reopen schools.
"(It's) Important to give special consideration to the children who are the hardest to reach and who have the biggest challenges catching up on lost learning," she tweeted.
Bangladesh ranks 'first in the world' for breastfeeding
Call it a silver lining in the pandemic era. Bangladesh has been ranked first in the world in breastfeeding in a global survey.
The World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) has congratulated Bangladesh for having achieved the status of 'green' nation, along with Sri Lanka.
Only two countries out of 98 have achieved this status so far. Bangladesh got rank number one by scoring 91.5 out of 100.
Read: Risk of Covid-19 infection from breastfeeding negligible: WHO
This is based on its performance on 10 indicators of policies and programmes the WBTi uses to colour-code and rank countries. In an ascending order of performance, the colour codes are red, yellow, blue and green.
“Bangladesh that scored 91.5/100 earned a green colour code, which implies the best level of performance. This has been the result of persistent efforts since 2005 to pursue improvements.
"Bangladesh demonstrated high-level commitment, led by its Prime Minister, towards health and nutrition of mothers and babies,” said Dr Arun Gupta, WBTi's global coordinator.
Read Mexican women protest violence via art, breastfeeding
Launched in 2004, WBTi assists countries to assess the status of and benchmark the progress in implementation of the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) in a standard way.
It is based on the WHO's tool for national assessment of policy and programmes on infant and young child feeding.
Inadequate breastfeeding costs the global economy almost $1 billion each day. This loss is due to lost productivity and healthcare costs. In addition, it saves 700,000 lives annually.
Read HC wants breastfeeding corners at workplaces, elsewhere
Breastfeeding majorly benefits child health, women’s health and prevents non-communicable diseases. This can only be achieved through galvanizing national actions to protect, and support every pregnant and lactating woman.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) is actively supporting the breastfeeding actions on a continuous basis and looks for further development of IYCF in Bangladesh.
“In the latest report of 2020, several partners together did this assessment and we scored green code in five out of 10 indicators,” said Dr SK Roy, chairperson of the Bangladesh Breastfeeding Foundation, who led this effort of assessment.
Read: UN for supporting breastfeeding for healthier planet
WBTi was developed by the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India in Delhi. So far, 125 countries have been trained to do this assessment and 98 have already completed assessments.
Many have done it twice or thrice. First 10 countries include Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Cuba, Gambia, Bolivia, Turkey, El Salvador, Niger, Kenya, and Kuwait.
India stands at 79, Nepal at 39 and Maldives at 19. WBTi assists countries to assess and analyse gaps, and then calls for actions to bridge the gaps.
Read Pregnant, lactating women to get Covid jab: DGHS
The WBTi process includes re-assessment every 3-5 years as an integral part to check the trends in the country.
According to the findings of the 'Making A Difference: An Evaluation Report of WBTi in Mobilising National Actions on Breastfeeding', the more countries do reassessment, the better are the improvements in policy and programmes to remove the barriers women face while breastfeeding.
Gains included infant feeding during emergencies, BFHI and funding, and the report showed if policy scores improved, it was associated with improved practices.
Read 'India likely to have Covid shot for children by September'
What WBTi does is to raise awareness about gaps and the need to generate action so that the governments and employers can come forward to bridge the gaps where needed.
The WBTi tools generate colour-coded simple graphics, which are easily understandable by the policymakers to identify and prioritise areas for investment.
For example, if an indicator is in ‘red’ it needs greater attention. Thus WBTi comes in handy to strengthen a country’s policy implementation and services.
Read: Set up breastfeeding corners at all factories within 2 months: HC
Some 41% of infants less than six months of age are exclusively breastfed, far short of the 2030 global target of 70%.
According to WHO and UNICEF, every pregnant and breastfeeding woman and the baby require an enabling environment in order to begin breastfeeding within an hour of birth, breastfeed exclusively for six months and continue breastfeeding along with adequate food till two years or beyond.