Nigeria: More Women, Children, Under Threat Over Climate Change, Covid-19, Others

By Chioma Obinna, Bolaji Babtunde & Deborah Ariyo

The health of women and children including adolescents is currently under threat following the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and conflicts, a new United Nations, UN, report, revealed Tuesday.

The report also found that in Nigeria despite the decline in under-five mortalities by 20 percent since 2013, 1 in 10 children do not reach their fifth birthday.

It that 18 percent of Nigerian children between the ages of 12 and 23 months did not receive any vaccinations, showing a relative decrease of 55 percent from 5 years ago, and 1 out of 2 (2.5 in 5) births are attended by skilled birth attendants.

The report, titled "Protect the Promise" is published by global partners, including WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), and Countdown to 2030, as a bi-annual summary of progress in response to the UN Secretary General's Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy for Women, Children's and Adolescents' Health.

The report which is an update to the last Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy Progress Report published in 2020, data showed a critical regression across virtually every major measure of childhood well-being, and many key indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

It further showed that an estimated 25 million children were un or under-vaccinated in 2021, 6 million more than in 2019. The situation increases their risk of contracting deadly and debilitating diseases.

According to the report, millions of children missed out on school during the pandemic while approximately 80 percent of children in 104 countries and territories experienced learning loss because of school closures.

It also highlighted that since the start of the global pandemic, 10.5 million children have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19.

Speaking on the report, United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres noted that at the core of their unkept promise is the failure to address the gaping inequities at the root of global crises, from the COVID-19 pandemic to conflicts and the climate emergency.

He said the report described the impacts of these crises on women, children, and adolescents, from maternal mortality to education losses to severe malnutrition.

He said the report provides wide-ranging evidence that children and adolescents face wildly divergent chances of leading a healthy life simply based on where they are born, their exposure to conflict, and the economic circumstances of their families.

"For example, A child born in a low-income country has an average life expectancy at birth of around 63 years, compared to 80 in a high-income country. This devastating 17-year survival gap has changed little over recent years. In 2020, 5 million children died even before the age of 5, mostly from preventable or treatable causes. Meanwhile, most maternal, child, and adolescent deaths and stillbirths are concentrated in just two regions - sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

"More than 45 million children had acute malnutrition in 2020, a life-threatening condition which leaves them vulnerable to death, developmental delays, and disease. Nearly three-quarters of these children live in lower-middle-income countries. A staggering 149 million children were stunted in 2020. Africa is the only region where the number of children affected by stunting increased over the past 20 years, from 54.4 million in 2000 to 61.4 million in 2020.

"The six countries with the highest numbers of internally displaced persons - Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Yemen - are also among the top 10 food insecure countries.

"A woman in sub-Saharan Africa has around a 130 times higher risk of dying from causes relating to pregnancy or childbirth than a woman in Europe or North America. Coverage of antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, and postnatal care are far from reaching all women in low- and middle-income countries, leaving them at elevated risk of death and disability.

"Millions of children and their families are experiencing poor physical and mental health from recent humanitarian disasters in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Somalia, Ukraine, and Yemen. In 2021, a record 89.3 million people worldwide were driven from their homes by war, violence, persecution, and human rights abuse."

The report called on the global community to address the damaging trajectory and protect the promises made to women, children, and adolescents in the SDGs.

It advocates for countries to continue investing in health services, address all crises and food insecurity, and empower women and young people around the world.

Read the original article on Vanguard.