UNICEF report takes an in-depth view of key trends impacting children in the third running year of the pandemic
2022 sees us entering a third year of the pandemic, and the harm done to children is increasingly evident: A record rise in child poverty. Setbacks to progress on routine vaccinations. Disruption to education for an entire generation. That harm has emerged as an unintended side-effect of the world’s efforts to manage the crisis.
COVID has been a uniquely dis-equalizing crisis. Lopsided access to vaccines aside, learning losses have been greatest among poorest children, and job losses have been disproportionately borne by women and youth.
What next for the world’s children in the year ahead? As in the past two years, prospects for children will continue to hinge foremost on the pandemic and how it is managed.
Our analysis zooms in on the next 12 months, taking an in-depth view of key trends impacting children – and helping all of us working to support children survive and thrive, to better understand where we are, where we are going and what we need to do.
Report looks at the prospects for children that will continue to hinge foremost on the pandemic and how it is managed
Key Findings for 2022:
For global communities, there is a strong need to recast COVID-strategy, particularly when mitigating its effect on children
- Consequences of school closures will be increasingly counted, specifically in regards to negative coping strategies like child labor and marriage
- A lock of global cooperation puts at risk the G20 target to vaccinate at least 70% of populations/country by mid-2022
- Inequalities in medical care continue to deepen, especially access vaccinations
- Record humanitarian needs are forecast in 2022, particularly due to the impact of climate change
- However, children and young people express greater optimism for the future and for 2022
- Technology and infrastructure developed for pandemic can drive the next revolution in child survival
Ten trends discussed in report:
- The pandemic’s uncertain trajectory
- A K-shaped, uneven global economic recovery
- Global inflationary pressures
- Mainstreaming of digital currencies
- The multilateral fallout from COVID-19
- Political instability and conflict
- Renegotiation of social contracts post COVID
- Convergence of frontier technologies in modern warfare and politics
- Growth of the digital economy
- Globalization of climate policies, finance and justice movements
Read the full report HERE
