UN "If COVID-19-induced Economic Recession Occurs, Hundreds of Thousands of Children Worldwide Could Die"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] The United Nations (UN) forecasted on the 16th (local time) that due to the economic recession caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), up to 66 million children could fall into extreme poverty this year alone, and among them, hundreds of thousands of children could die.

On the same day, the UN stated in a report titled "Protecting Children in the COVID-19 Crisis" that school closures were implemented in 188 countries due to the COVID-19 outbreak, affecting 1.5 billion children and youth.

The UN estimated that 42 million to 66 million children could fall into extreme poverty this year due to the COVID-19 crisis. As of last year, 386 million children were already living in extreme poverty. In particular, 369 million children in 143 countries depend on school-provided meals for their daily nutrition, so the school closures caused by lockdown measures due to COVID-19 have raised concerns about children's food security.

Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, warned, "Depending on the speed of the global economic recession, hundreds of thousands of additional children could die this year." The UN explained that this would reverse all the progress made over the past two to three years to reduce infant mortality rates in just one year.

Secretary-General Guterres also emphasized, "We must take action to respond to the threats facing our children," and urged, "Leaders must make every effort to prevent the damage caused by the pandemic."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.