Prognosis
Covid Has Led to Surge in Orphaned Children, Lancet Study Says
- More than 5 million kids lost parent or caregiver to Covid
- Governments should support orphans in Covid responses: authors
Students attend class at a private primary school for orphans in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 10, 2021.
Photographer: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
At least 5.2 million children have lost a parent or caregiver to Covid-19, putting them at risk of poverty, exploitation and abuse and highlighting the lasting scars of the pandemic, a study shows.
More than 1.2 million children under nine years of age were orphaned between March 2020 and October last year, along with 2.1 million kids between 10 and 17, according to a new modeling study published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal.