19 lakh children in India have lost a parent or caregiver to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a study by The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal.
Modelling a study of 20 countries, the Lancet said that the number of children estimated to have experienced the death of a parent or caregiver as a result of Covid-19 has surged to over 52 lakh globally. "Sadly, as high as our estimates of orphanhood and caregiver deaths are, they are likely to be underestimates, and we expect these numbers to grow as more global data on COVID-19 deaths becomes available," said Juliette Unwin, lead study author from Imperial College London, UK. "Real-time updated data suggests the true totals reached 6.7 million children as of January 2022.
While our current study looked at estimates through October 2021, the pandemic is still raging worldwide, which means Covid-19 related orphanhood will also continue to surge," Unwin added.
Estimates of the numbers of children affected by Covid-19-associated orphanhood and caregiver death nearly doubled in the six months from 1 May 2021 through 31 October 2021, compared with the numbers after the first 14 months of the pandemic.