INTRODUCTION
This pandemic has made more children vulnerable in the hands of predators, hardly a day passes without cases of child abuse and rape being reported around us. This is so painful and worrisome to everyone. The kids that go to school and return later in the evening are now lock down all day with their abusers, thus giving more room for physical, emotional and mental abuse. Some parents can’t afford to fend for their children and wards, therefore many children are released to go and play with their friends till night. Many are being deceived by men with biscuits, sweets, food, fake promises, etc. in the light of surviving this pandemic.

The harmful effects of this pandemic will not be distributed equally. The effects are expected to be most damaging for children in the poorest countries, and in the poorest neighborhoods, and for those in already disadvantaged or vulnerable situations. There are three main channels through which children are affected by this crisis: Infection with the virus itself; the immediate socioeconomic impacts of measures to stop transmission of the virus and end the pandemic; the potential longer-term effects of delayed implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Harmful effect of this pandemic on children

• Poor Access to healthcare: As health services become overwhelmed in caring for large numbers of infected patients requiring treatment, children and pregnant women are less able to access standard care. Parents now resort to self-medication and herbal concoctions which might pose a threat to the lives and survival of these children.
• Closure of schools: We all know the effect of closure of learning centers. Children are now made to take their classes online but how many children have access to online learning? Most don’t have access to electronic devices, internet and electricity. For children in rural areas, the absence of these resources have resulted to a halt in their education. What will be the fate of these children many years from now? The potential losses that may accrue in learning for today’s young generation, and for the development of their human capital, are hard to fathom.
• Lack of social contact: The virus has also resulted to a reduction in social contact. Most children are indoors every day and have lost social contact with their friends and play mate thus losing a very important aspect of social development.
• Increase in Assault or Sexual abuse: Children are now prone to sexual abuse by their relatives or neighbors.
• Increase in mental and emotional stress: Because of the news children are exposed to these days, their mental health has drastically been affected. News Channel and other programs children have been exposed to on TV during this period have affected their health immensely. Parents should ensure they monitor the contents and TV programs their children are exposed to.
• Increased hunger and starvation: Mostly children living in refugee camps and in rural communities. These children barely have access to food. Even when there is food, the ration is so small for them to go by-on.

What started as a public health emergency has snowballed into a formidable test for global development and for the prospects of today’s young generation in the following ways:

• Increase in teenage pregnancies: Currently there is an increase in sexual immorality, sexual abuse and the likes. Children are being sexually abused under their parent’s nose. With the way things are going now, we should anticipate an increase in teenage pregnancy in the year ahead.
• Reduced access to essential reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health interventions, such as antenatal care, skilled attendance at birth, and treatment for pneumonia. It also includes the suspension of all polio vaccination campaigns and immunizations worldwide.
• Reduced household income will force poor families to cut back on essential health and food expenditures. Historically, the burden of such shocks on households have disproportionately been borne by girls. We might have more girls dropping out of school.
• Children and adolescents with chronic illnesses, including those living with HIV, are at risk of reduced access to medicines and care.
• Access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH): Over 700 children under five die every day from diarrhea diseases related to inadequate WASH services, and this number could rise sharply if existing services collapse. This is especially alarming given the critical role of hygiene in preventing infection and controlling the spread of COVID-19.
• All round development of children is threatened because the pandemic has negatively affected the diets of children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers. Children from households with food shortages are more likely to have social and behavioral problems and developmental challenges, and to be hospitalized when they’re very young. Past research has shown elementary-aged children from food-insecure families had lower math scores and were more likely to repeat a grade; meanwhile, teenagers in food-insecure homes were more likely to have mental health issues.
• Loss of parents or caregiver: We thank God that children have been largely spared from the severe symptomatic reactions more common among older people, at least to date. However, an unexpected threat is for children to tragically lose a parent, family member, or caregiver to COVID-19. The psycho-social impacts of such loss on children should not be overlooked.

In summary
The ultimate threat on children rests on how much time it will take for the pandemic to end. A longer struggle to contain the virus will not only prolong the pain caused by the pandemic, but raises the prospect that the pandemic’s impact will have lingering or persistent effects on children. For instance, the longer economies are on shutdown, the less likely they are to “snap back”. At the household level, struggling families will increasingly see breadwinners lose their jobs or be forced to sell productive assets in order to survive, with long-running consequences for child poverty. Also, the longer schools remain closed, the less likely children are to catch up on learning and essential life skills that support a healthy transition to adulthood.

The longer immunization campaigns are suspended, the greater and more costly will be the struggle to eliminate or manage measles outbreaks and other childhood infections. For children caught at the apex of this crisis, there is a genuine prospect that its effects will permanently alter their lives. Children facing acute deprivation in nutrition, protection or periods of prolonged exposure to toxic stress, during the critical window of early childhood development are likely to develop lifelong challenges as their neurological development is impaired. Children who drop out of school will face not only a higher risk of child marriage, child labor, and teenage pregnancies, but will see their lifetime earnings potential fall. Children who experience family breakdowns during this period of heightened stress risk losing the sense of support and security on which children’s well-being depends.

Conclusion
We have to work together to make progress on these three fronts:

• We need to get more information on the pandemic so that the solutions we provide will capture the different dimensions in which the pandemic affect children.
• We need to collaborate not compete. One organization cannot do it alone.
• We need less talk and more action. Call on your stakeholders to adopt best practices of nations and adapt them to our local content.
• We need more implementations and not more dormant laws and policies.
• We have a chance to not only defeat this pandemic, but to transform the way we nurture and invest in the young generation.

This is not a gradual issue, it is a clarion call for every one of us to save our children because they represent our today and tomorrow. The future will be bleak if we don’t act fast.

Facilitated by Mrs. Folashade Bamigboye. The Executive Director of Kids & Teens Resource Centre.