I do hope that Nyesom wicked wike will see this and change his lockdown policy.. we are really suffering here in ph

So suddenly a lot of people are against lockdown? Hahahaha I guess you have to wait for organisations like this to tell you what and how to think.

proeast:
According to the UNICEF, government should only locate hotspots for lockdown and not just everywhere. Therefore, based on that, Nigeria should put the following places in total and indefinite lockdown: Lagos, Kano, Oyo, Ogun, Katsina, Borno, Osun, Kaduna, and FCT.

The SE governors must expedite action now, our northern and Western borders must be under strict supervision 24/7 now! States like Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi must take extra precautionary measures to ensure that people are stopped from coming into the SE from these epicenters.

The SE must increase its testing capacity while closing our borders to ensure that our success so far is not frittered away.

Bro listen to yourself, you wan make them lock up another region but you fail to understand that what enters SE Nigeria all pass through Lagos-Ogun-Edo boundaries, try to reason and understand that SE no get any corridor to Port apart from Port Harcourt no ships wants to access due to militancy and pirates kidnapping their shipping crew.

Marshalemmy:
Something urgent needs to be done. Though UNICEF and WHO can't be trusted

u are the only rightful thinking somebody here...both organisations got ulterior motives.

Countries wey get sense don dey plan ahead, mumu Nigeria dey plan to extend lockdown. Dem cage people for house wey light and food nor dey, even heat sef go kill people finish. How daily labourers wan take feed their families?



Make dem leave us to go out jor, those wey their immune system strong go resist am. Those wey dia own nor strong OYO is their case, I know say Nigerians go prefer to come out. We are fearless in nature, nothing dey happen. Fvck audio Corona!

dominique:
Hope Wike is taking notes

abi o my sis

Mizwisdom:
Ogun State take note

Wike should take note as well

Snaagg:


Worst part is they are now classifying everything as Covid-19 in a pathetic attempt to justify the lockdown.

Go to isolation centres and see how scanty the place is.. just go and see how the few people there (I mean very few) are having all sorts of symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea etc.. all of which are NOT coronavirus symptoms. Nigerian health practitioners are so heavily misinformed about what this 'virus' is and it's so funny to watch.

If you have typhoid it's now coro,
Malaria nko, it's coro too.

I just question why the mass fear mongering and manipulation of figures... This virus is not as deadly as it's been portrayed! It's nothing more than an overhyped strain of the Flu.

Fear is the keyword.

Unicef our dear teams NCDC and EFCC have not finish their matches please wait 4 them

Lilimax:
Well said.
So many countries rushed to copy the Western World without enought palliative for people.

I cant imagine a family of six staying in a one room apartment of 'face me I slap you' with everybody sharing one Shalanga Toilet

What can't you imagine? They didn't just begin to live in that one room apartment.

Can you imagine two of those six in that one room going to a public school of 1000 pupils to mix with your 3 kids?

Whether in the developed or developing nations, lockdown wasn't deployed to stop the virus but rather to slow down the spread. That has failed obviously in Nigeria even though I believe the government has tried its best. May be it's time to consider popular opinions like yours.

“One size fits no one. The objective is to slow the virus, not to lockdown people. “We need to lift our eyes and look at the total picture of public health.”

GBAM! I have been saying this for months. In Ibadan (Oyo), there has not been lockdown, and we have fewer cases than places with lockdown. One size doesn't fit all. You can't lockdown people in slums and expert the same results as people locked down in sparsely populated areas. You would just make matters worse. We need another solution for Naija.

degbads:
Are we just discovering this? Pastor Chris Oyakhilome already said this, many didn't believe.

Said wetin. Don't bring the conspiracy theorists in this.

Many folks knew lockdown in UNDERDEVELOPED countries like Nigeria can't work in the long term. And that's what UNICEF said.

Your pastor didn't discover something new.

Indiscriminate lockdown is an enemy of the people and a handiwork of lazy leaders. Our leaders are good at politics and will fail at anything. Their critical reasoning skill is zero. dynamic problem solving skill is zero. Just copying America. How can they lockdown a place like Ebute Meta were people cannot be confine to their rooms? That is a theoretical lockdown! In practice, there was no lockdown. The solutions such a busy area is to advocate and enforce the use of face mask. Nigeria is peculiar that lockdown can’t work. Who will enforce the lockdown? The men in black? There is interstate lockdown but people are moving freely just with 2k per checkpoint.

h2selectronics:
Unicef warns lockdown could kill more than Covid-19 as model predicts 1.2 million child deaths

'Indiscriminate lockdowns' are an ineffective way to control Covid and could contribute to a 45 per cent rise in child mortality'

The risk of children dying from malaria, pneumonia or diarrhoea in developing countries is spiralling due to the pandemic and “far outweighs any threat presented by the coronavirus”, Unicef has warned. 

In an exclusive interview Dr Stefan Peterson, chief of health at Unicef, cautioned that the blanket lockdowns imposed in many low and middle income are not an effective way to control Covid-19 and could have deadly repercussions. 

“Indiscriminate lockdown measures do not have an optimal effect on the virus,” he told The Telegraph. “If you’re asking families to stay at home in one room in a slum, without food or water, that won’t limit virus transmission.

“I’m concerned that lockdown measures have been copied between countries for lack of knowing what to do, rarely with any contextualisation for the local situation,” he said.

“One size fits no one. The objective is to slow the virus, not to lockdown people. “We need to lift our eyes and look at the total picture of public health.”

According to a stark report published in Lancet Global Health journal on Wednesday, almost 1.2 million children could die in the next six months due to the disruption to health services and food supplies caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

The modelling, by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Unicef, found that child mortality rates could rise by as much as 45 per cent due to coronavirus-related disruptions, while maternal deaths could increase by almost 39 per cent. 

Dr Peterson said these figures were in part a reflection of stringent restrictions in much of the world that prevent people leaving their homes without documentation, preventing them from accessing essential health care services. 

In some countries the public are also avoiding hospitals and health centres for fear of picking up Covid-19, while services have also been diverted to focus on the pandemic. Vaccination campaigns against diseases including measles have also been disrupted - at least 117 million children worldwide are likely to miss out on routine immunisations this year. 

Dr Peterson warned that these trends have resulted in a reduction in the “effective utilisation of services” - a shift which, in some places, could be more dangerous than the virus itself.  And lockdowns have a heavy economic toll, which could trigger a rise in poverty and malnutrition.

The research looks at the consequences of disruption in 118 low and middle income countries, based on three scenarios. Even in the most optimistic case, where access to health services dropped by 15 per cent and child wasting rose by 10 per cent, an additional 253,500 children and 12,200 mothers died. 

But a worst-case scenario, where services are reduced by 45 per cent and the proportion of children who are wasting grows by 50 per cent, could result in 1.16 million additional child fatalities and 57,000 maternal deaths in just six months. 

The modelling projected that India would see both the largest number of additional deaths in children under five and maternal mortality, followed by Nigeria. Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Indonesia are also likely to be hit hard.

Such a situation has some precedent - research has shown that in 2014, during the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, more people died from indirect effects than the disease itself. But the scale of the pandemic means the consequences will be far greater. 

“Ever since we started counting child deaths and maternal mortality, those numbers have been going down and down and down,” said Dr Peterson. “And actually these times are unprecedented becausewe’re very likely to be looking at a scenario where figures are going up.

“That’s not from Covid - Covid is not a children's disease. Yes there are rare instances and we see them publicised across the media. But pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles, death in childbirth, these are the reasons we will see deaths rise,” he said. “These threats far outweighs any threat presented by the coronavirus in low and middle income countries.”

Dr Peterson urged countries not to impose draconian lockdowns, but to focus on identifying hotspots so that regional restrictions less damaging for public health can be introduced. 

He said he was concerned that the current battle against Covid-19 was turning into a “child’s rights crisis” and robbing a generation of their health, education and economic prospects.  

Launching the ‘Save Generation Covid’ campaign, Unicef’s largest appeal in its 73 year history, Sacha Deshmukh, executive director of Unicef UK, added: “This pandemic is having far-reaching consequences for all of us, but it is undoubtedly the biggest and most urgent global crisis children have faced since World War Two.

“We cannot allow almost a decade of progress on ending preventable child deaths to become undone on our watch.”

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/unicef-warns-lockdown-could-kill-covid-19-model-predicts-12/

Those political leaders that were preaching lockdown including their supporter in the social media like Facebook, nairaland can read that the lockdown is not an effective solution for curbing the spread of coronavirus.

Lockdown has created unemployement as most small and large scale companies can not sustain a long shutdown of their business operations.

If UNICEF and UN no tell these idiots their common sense can never tell them...dumb people stay inside forever

Honor10:


It is not about believing anybody, it is logic, use ur senses.

EXACTLY!!! Just simple logical reasoning. But no, we like to follow follow.

h2selectronics:
Unicef warns lockdown could kill more than Covid-19 as model predicts 1.2 million child deaths

'Indiscriminate lockdowns' are an ineffective way to control Covid and could contribute to a 45 per cent rise in child mortality'

The risk of children dying from malaria, pneumonia or diarrhoea in developing countries is spiralling due to the pandemic and “far outweighs any threat presented by the coronavirus”, Unicef has warned. 

In an exclusive interview Dr Stefan Peterson, chief of health at Unicef, cautioned that the blanket lockdowns imposed in many low and middle income are not an effective way to control Covid-19 and could have deadly repercussions. 

“Indiscriminate lockdown measures do not have an optimal effect on the virus,” he told The Telegraph. “If you’re asking families to stay at home in one room in a slum, without food or water, that won’t limit virus transmission.

“I’m concerned that lockdown measures have been copied between countries for lack of knowing what to do, rarely with any contextualisation for the local situation,” he said.

“One size fits no one. The objective is to slow the virus, not to lockdown people. “We need to lift our eyes and look at the total picture of public health.”

According to a stark report published in Lancet Global Health journal on Wednesday, almost 1.2 million children could die in the next six months due to the disruption to health services and food supplies caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

The modelling, by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Unicef, found that child mortality rates could rise by as much as 45 per cent due to coronavirus-related disruptions, while maternal deaths could increase by almost 39 per cent. 

Dr Peterson said these figures were in part a reflection of stringent restrictions in much of the world that prevent people leaving their homes without documentation, preventing them from accessing essential health care services. 

In some countries the public are also avoiding hospitals and health centres for fear of picking up Covid-19, while services have also been diverted to focus on the pandemic. Vaccination campaigns against diseases including measles have also been disrupted - at least 117 million children worldwide are likely to miss out on routine immunisations this year. 

Dr Peterson warned that these trends have resulted in a reduction in the “effective utilisation of services” - a shift which, in some places, could be more dangerous than the virus itself.  And lockdowns have a heavy economic toll, which could trigger a rise in poverty and malnutrition.

The research looks at the consequences of disruption in 118 low and middle income countries, based on three scenarios. Even in the most optimistic case, where access to health services dropped by 15 per cent and child wasting rose by 10 per cent, an additional 253,500 children and 12,200 mothers died. 

But a worst-case scenario, where services are reduced by 45 per cent and the proportion of children who are wasting grows by 50 per cent, could result in 1.16 million additional child fatalities and 57,000 maternal deaths in just six months. 

The modelling projected that India would see both the largest number of additional deaths in children under five and maternal mortality, followed by Nigeria. Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Indonesia are also likely to be hit hard.

Such a situation has some precedent - research has shown that in 2014, during the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, more people died from indirect effects than the disease itself. But the scale of the pandemic means the consequences will be far greater. 

“Ever since we started counting child deaths and maternal mortality, those numbers have been going down and down and down,” said Dr Peterson. “And actually these times are unprecedented becausewe’re very likely to be looking at a scenario where figures are going up.

“That’s not from Covid - Covid is not a children's disease. Yes there are rare instances and we see them publicised across the media. But pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles, death in childbirth, these are the reasons we will see deaths rise,” he said. “These threats far outweighs any threat presented by the coronavirus in low and middle income countries.”

Dr Peterson urged countries not to impose draconian lockdowns, but to focus on identifying hotspots so that regional restrictions less damaging for public health can be introduced. 

He said he was concerned that the current battle against Covid-19 was turning into a “child’s rights crisis” and robbing a generation of their health, education and economic prospects.  

Launching the ‘Save Generation Covid’ campaign, Unicef’s largest appeal in its 73 year history, Sacha Deshmukh, executive director of Unicef UK, added: “This pandemic is having far-reaching consequences for all of us, but it is undoubtedly the biggest and most urgent global crisis children have faced since World War Two.

“We cannot allow almost a decade of progress on ending preventable child deaths to become undone on our watch.”

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/unicef-warns-lockdown-could-kill-covid-19-model-predicts-12/

. Governor wike of rivers state should read this write and tell me one reason why I should called educated man not to talk of calling him a lawyer.

I’m concerned that lockdown measures have been copied between countries for lack of knowing what to do, rarely with any contextualisation for the local situation,” he said

This is exactly what's happening in Nigeria

Those ppl that their means of livelihood are secured are clamouring for extension of lockdown at the detriment of the peasants.

Ajegunle is a slum in Lagos, how many families got palliatives from govt and those that got how far can it reach?

Police and army were already competing with covid-19 on kill rate before some states lessen lockdown

donnie:
GBAM... busted!

They should watch out now, because these wicked men can return to the lab to tweak the virus to get children sick.

The children are already getting sick. Most are showing symptoms of Kawasaki disease. Some had heart attacks.

/
When I say that Africans are bereft of original ideas, some people will beg to differ. Whatever oyibo people do, Africans will copy and enforce.

Some diseases are more devastating in certain locales than others. If I show up with malaria in any US hospital, I will be treated worse than anyone with Covid-19. The same malaria that Africans treat with OTC medications. If one is diagnosed with asthma in Nigeria, folks watch him or her carefully. The same asthma that kids know the remedy in US because it is very prevalent.

Oyibo said lock people down. Wike went full force. Malaria and typhoid kill more people every year but they don't come with scare tactics. If they like, they can lock down the whole country for one year, Covid-19 can never be eradicated. It has to be managed like other diseases. If someone with underlying renal problem dies from binging on alcohol, we say he died of kidney disease. However, if someone with underlying pulmonary disorder dies from coronavirus compromise, we call it covid-19 death. We blame the catalyst instead of the ailment. It is all game. Coronavirus is real but it is getting more credit that it deserves.

/

Where are the lock down agitators?

Cc: Acidosis

See una life.

h2selectronics:
Unicef warns lockdown could kill more than Covid-19 as model predicts 1.2 million child deaths

'Indiscriminate lockdowns' are an ineffective way to control Covid and could contribute to a 45 per cent rise in child mortality'

The risk of children dying from malaria, pneumonia or diarrhoea in developing countries is spiralling due to the pandemic and “far outweighs any threat presented by the coronavirus”, Unicef has warned. 

In an exclusive interview Dr Stefan Peterson, chief of health at Unicef, cautioned that the blanket lockdowns imposed in many low and middle income are not an effective way to control Covid-19 and could have deadly repercussions. 

“Indiscriminate lockdown measures do not have an optimal effect on the virus,” he told The Telegraph. “If you’re asking families to stay at home in one room in a slum, without food or water, that won’t limit virus transmission.

“I’m concerned that lockdown measures have been copied between countries for lack of knowing what to do, rarely with any contextualisation for the local situation,” he said.

“One size fits no one. The objective is to slow the virus, not to lockdown people. “We need to lift our eyes and look at the total picture of public health.”

According to a stark report published in Lancet Global Health journal on Wednesday, almost 1.2 million children could die in the next six months due to the disruption to health services and food supplies caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

The modelling, by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Unicef, found that child mortality rates could rise by as much as 45 per cent due to coronavirus-related disruptions, while maternal deaths could increase by almost 39 per cent. 

Dr Peterson said these figures were in part a reflection of stringent restrictions in much of the world that prevent people leaving their homes without documentation, preventing them from accessing essential health care services. 

In some countries the public are also avoiding hospitals and health centres for fear of picking up Covid-19, while services have also been diverted to focus on the pandemic. Vaccination campaigns against diseases including measles have also been disrupted - at least 117 million children worldwide are likely to miss out on routine immunisations this year. 

Dr Peterson warned that these trends have resulted in a reduction in the “effective utilisation of services” - a shift which, in some places, could be more dangerous than the virus itself.  And lockdowns have a heavy economic toll, which could trigger a rise in poverty and malnutrition.

The research looks at the consequences of disruption in 118 low and middle income countries, based on three scenarios. Even in the most optimistic case, where access to health services dropped by 15 per cent and child wasting rose by 10 per cent, an additional 253,500 children and 12,200 mothers died. 

But a worst-case scenario, where services are reduced by 45 per cent and the proportion of children who are wasting grows by 50 per cent, could result in 1.16 million additional child fatalities and 57,000 maternal deaths in just six months. 

The modelling projected that India would see both the largest number of additional deaths in children under five and maternal mortality, followed by Nigeria. Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Indonesia are also likely to be hit hard.

Such a situation has some precedent - research has shown that in 2014, during the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, more people died from indirect effects than the disease itself. But the scale of the pandemic means the consequences will be far greater. 

“Ever since we started counting child deaths and maternal mortality, those numbers have been going down and down and down,” said Dr Peterson. “And actually these times are unprecedented becausewe’re very likely to be looking at a scenario where figures are going up.

“That’s not from Covid - Covid is not a children's disease. Yes there are rare instances and we see them publicised across the media. But pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles, death in childbirth, these are the reasons we will see deaths rise,” he said. “These threats far outweighs any threat presented by the coronavirus in low and middle income countries.”

Dr Peterson urged countries not to impose draconian lockdowns, but to focus on identifying hotspots so that regional restrictions less damaging for public health can be introduced. 

He said he was concerned that the current battle against Covid-19 was turning into a “child’s rights crisis” and robbing a generation of their health, education and economic prospects.  

Launching the ‘Save Generation Covid’ campaign, Unicef’s largest appeal in its 73 year history, Sacha Deshmukh, executive director of Unicef UK, added: “This pandemic is having far-reaching consequences for all of us, but it is undoubtedly the biggest and most urgent global crisis children have faced since World War Two.

“We cannot allow almost a decade of progress on ending preventable child deaths to become undone on our watch.”

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/unicef-warns-lockdown-could-kill-covid-19-model-predicts-12/

Right on point, what baffles me however, most of our policy makers have visited and resided in western countries, HOW THEN WILL A FAMILY OF FIVE THAT LIVE IN A FACE TO FACE ON AJEGUNLE AND USES A MAKESHIFT BATHROOM WITH OTHER TENANTS PRACTICE LOCKDOWN. One size does not fit all. It is more akin to say the Nigeria economy is booming or in recession, does it make any difference if over 70% of the population are living on just one dollar a day ? Our social and economic policies should be tailored according to our circumstances, and our environment. No electricity or free broadband and you expect a Man to obey a lockdown. The result will be more unplanned pregnancies.

Snaagg:


Worst part is they are now classifying everything as Covid-19 in a pathetic attempt to justify the lockdown.

Go to isolation centres and see how scanty the place is.. just go and see how the few people there (I mean very few) are having all sorts of symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea etc.. all of which are NOT coronavirus symptoms. Nigerian health practitioners are so heavily misinformed about what this 'virus' is and it's so funny to watch.

If you have typhoid it's now coro,
Malaria nko, it's coro too.

I just question why the mass fear mongering and manipulation of figures... This virus is not as deadly as it's been portrayed! It's nothing more than an overhyped strain of the Flu.

you are the misinformed one here. Vomiting and diarrhea are all symptoms of covid19.

me love the lockdown ooo

check my signature n join million.money N3m is realistic in 100 days.

Raalsalghul:
Where are the lock down agitators?

Cc: Acidosis

See una life.

I supported the lockdown at a time I expected aggressive testing, contact tracing, etc.

That wasn't done so there's really no point keeping people at home while testing 200 per day in a state with a high rate of community transmission.

The reality now is that the virus was here and still here.

Snaagg:


Worst part is they are now classifying everything as Covid-19 in a pathetic attempt to justify the lockdown.

Go to isolation centres and see how scanty the place is.. just go and see how the few people there (I mean very few) are having all sorts of symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea etc.. all of which are NOT coronavirus symptoms. Nigerian health practitioners are so heavily misinformed about what this 'virus' is and it's so funny to watch.

If you have typhoid it's now coro,
Malaria nko, it's coro too.

I just question why the mass fear mongering and manipulation of figures... This virus is not as deadly as it's been portrayed! It's nothing more than an overhyped strain of the Flu.

I concur, you have less than ten percent of dying from the disease.

Exc2000:



each country needs to have a full policy document and piece of legislation on disaster management, this fire brigade approach is very stupid... we should set up a special fund in case things like this happens, because even after Corrona virus goes, Trump is hell bent on giving us another World War, and I doubt Trump vs China, Russia , Iran nuclear war wouldn't be more catastrophic than Corrona Virus, infact we should thank Corona virus for slowing down tensions between the western power bloc and the eastern power bloc

The sooner we start preparing for Lockdowns and War the better for us all, rather than making silly excuses of hunger , poverty and disease

Whats our excuse as Africans not to prepare, Isreal, Saudi and other middle eastern countries without good soil imported tonnes of fertile soil into their country and now produce more than enough agricultural product that they even export.

yet Africa with the resources are listening to insults from UNICEF saying blacks cant follow simple health guideline because they are lazy and hungry.. the sickening part is many people are already commending UNICEF for calling blacks hungry , lazy people who would prefer a plate of food to keeping healthy during dangerous pandemic

In 2020 white racist Unicef Directors still tells Africans , not to take simple health precaution because they are lazy , hungry poor and stupid, while the Unicef workers conducting this report had since travelled back through their various embassy in Nigeria to go to their own country to observe every health directives including lockdown

Buhari please end the lock down so that Kano and Jigawa people, lagos and ogun people can enjoy free movement and transmit whatever is killing them in hundreds across the entire country from SouthEast to SouthSouth and everywhere, Wike should also open the state borders and let Almajiri bring in food from Kano, last last na una without basic health insurance go suffer pass, Unicef people are already in their various countries 2nd week corona entered Nigeria, observing lockdown, Trump test all staffs and people close to him regularly, and once you are positive you can kiss the white house good bye, he isn't even travelling anymore for November election campaings


.

You wrote full text book but still sounded empty.

We haven't recovered from the previous lockdown they are planin another..Pls my fellow nairalander my wife just delivered through cs.We have exhausted all what we have.The babe and the mother are fine but we lack food.Pls bless us with whateva u have.God will bless u abundantly.
0690833313-access

h2selectronics:
Unicef warns lockdown could kill more than Covid-19 as model predicts 1.2 million child deaths

'Indiscriminate lockdowns' are an ineffective way to control Covid and could contribute to a 45 per cent rise in child mortality'

The risk of children dying from malaria, pneumonia or diarrhoea in developing countries is spiralling due to the pandemic and “far outweighs any threat presented by the coronavirus”, Unicef has warned. 

In an exclusive interview Dr Stefan Peterson, chief of health at Unicef, cautioned that the blanket lockdowns imposed in many low and middle income are not an effective way to control Covid-19 and could have deadly repercussions. 

“Indiscriminate lockdown measures do not have an optimal effect on the virus,” he told The Telegraph. “If you’re asking families to stay at home in one room in a slum, without food or water, that won’t limit virus transmission.

“I’m concerned that lockdown measures have been copied between countries for lack of knowing what to do, rarely with any contextualisation for the local situation,” he said.

“One size fits no one. The objective is to slow the virus, not to lockdown people. “We need to lift our eyes and look at the total picture of public health.”

According to a stark report published in Lancet Global Health journal on Wednesday, almost 1.2 million children could die in the next six months due to the disruption to health services and food supplies caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

The modelling, by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Unicef, found that child mortality rates could rise by as much as 45 per cent due to coronavirus-related disruptions, while maternal deaths could increase by almost 39 per cent. 

Dr Peterson said these figures were in part a reflection of stringent restrictions in much of the world that prevent people leaving their homes without documentation, preventing them from accessing essential health care services. 

In some countries the public are also avoiding hospitals and health centres for fear of picking up Covid-19, while services have also been diverted to focus on the pandemic. Vaccination campaigns against diseases including measles have also been disrupted - at least 117 million children worldwide are likely to miss out on routine immunisations this year. 

Dr Peterson warned that these trends have resulted in a reduction in the “effective utilisation of services” - a shift which, in some places, could be more dangerous than the virus itself.  And lockdowns have a heavy economic toll, which could trigger a rise in poverty and malnutrition.

The research looks at the consequences of disruption in 118 low and middle income countries, based on three scenarios. Even in the most optimistic case, where access to health services dropped by 15 per cent and child wasting rose by 10 per cent, an additional 253,500 children and 12,200 mothers died. 

But a worst-case scenario, where services are reduced by 45 per cent and the proportion of children who are wasting grows by 50 per cent, could result in 1.16 million additional child fatalities and 57,000 maternal deaths in just six months. 

The modelling projected that India would see both the largest number of additional deaths in children under five and maternal mortality, followed by Nigeria. Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Indonesia are also likely to be hit hard.

Such a situation has some precedent - research has shown that in 2014, during the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, more people died from indirect effects than the disease itself. But the scale of the pandemic means the consequences will be far greater. 

“Ever since we started counting child deaths and maternal mortality, those numbers have been going down and down and down,” said Dr Peterson. “And actually these times are unprecedented becausewe’re very likely to be looking at a scenario where figures are going up.

“That’s not from Covid - Covid is not a children's disease. Yes there are rare instances and we see them publicised across the media. But pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles, death in childbirth, these are the reasons we will see deaths rise,” he said. “These threats far outweighs any threat presented by the coronavirus in low and middle income countries.”

Dr Peterson urged countries not to impose draconian lockdowns, but to focus on identifying hotspots so that regional restrictions less damaging for public health can be introduced. 

He said he was concerned that the current battle against Covid-19 was turning into a “child’s rights crisis” and robbing a generation of their health, education and economic prospects.  

Launching the ‘Save Generation Covid’ campaign, Unicef’s largest appeal in its 73 year history, Sacha Deshmukh, executive director of Unicef UK, added: “This pandemic is having far-reaching consequences for all of us, but it is undoubtedly the biggest and most urgent global crisis children have faced since World War Two.

“We cannot allow almost a decade of progress on ending preventable child deaths to become undone on our watch.”

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/unicef-warns-lockdown-could-kill-covid-19-model-predicts-12/

Tell them if they will hear the cry of the masses.