1. Food Insecurity
Food is more than a meal. It’s survival.
If hunger does not kill a child, severe acute malnutrition can cause lifelong physical and mental damage at an early age. The world is not on track to achieve its goals to improve nutrition by 2030, with 50.5 million children under five acutely malnourished.
These children are concentrated in some of the most dangerous places globally, with conflict and war largely contributing to hunger. In 2021, the effects of the global pandemic, ongoing conflict, and climate change are steadily increasing food insecurity for families and children.
2. Refugees
In 2021, more children will be on the move than ever before in history.
Last year more than 80 million people worldwide were forced to flee their homes, around half of whom are under the age of 18. Violence and conflict are the main reasons people flee.
Families risk everything, undertaking long and dangerous journeys in the hope of finding safety and stability. By far, the most affected group are children, who are often separated from their parents, lose access to education and healthcare, and become victims of early marriage and child labor.
3. Climate Change
The weather on our planet is becoming more extreme, with direct impacts on the poorest and most vulnerable children. Parents struggle to feed their children when rains are late or non-existent. On the other end of this scale are deadly floods and landslides that destroy crops and communities and become a breeding ground for disease.
Increasingly, severe droughts and floods drive rural families to new towns, cities, and countries, triggering tension and conflict with host communities.
Climate change is affecting the future of the most vulnerable children. With millions of families relying on farming and an income, no income means no money for school fees, health, rent, or stability.
4. Child Marriage/Gender Discrimination
COVID-19 has created a crisis for girls around the world. As vulnerable families lose their incomes, girls are being sold into child marriage to make ends meet. We believe that as many as 13 million extra child marriages will occur in the years immediately following the pandemic, with at least four million more girls married in the next two years.
The global pandemic has also created an education disaster for vulnerable girls. COVID-19 lockdowns have seen teen pregnancy rates spike, meant to keep children and families safe from the pandemic. In sub-Saharan Africa, whereas many as one million girls may be blocked from returning to school due to becoming pregnant during COVID-19 school closures, 17-year-old Efua's* community in Ghana has seen a 9-fold increase in teen pregnancies. Child marriages and teen pregnancies exacerbate the cycle of poverty for girls growing up in the toughest places to be a child.
5. Child Labour and Trafficking
The number of children experiencing physical, emotional, and sexual violence, both now and in the months. As COVID-19 puts strain on family incomes, children are forced to beg in the streets or sent to work instead of going to school to help their families get by.
In Asia alone, as many as 8 million children are being forced into begging and child labour because parents cannot afford to buy enough food
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6.Economy.
More than 493m full-time-equivalent jobs, most belonging to women and youth, were lost in 2020, and the global GDP declined by 4.3%. The International Monetary Fund noted that this crisis might have been worse if not for strong government intervention. Governments have provided an unprecedented level of support to businesses and citizens through direct funding, investments, tax reductions, and targeted distribution of goods. This level of support, however, has come at the cost of ballooning government debt.
The World Bank predicts a modest rebound in 2021, with a 4% growth in global output, contingent upon broadscale COVID-19 vaccination success and government policies and programs that promote private-sector growth and reduced public-sector debt.
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