It makes alarming reading that Unicef has said an additional 6,000 children could die worldwide every day from preventable causes in the next six months with the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to weaken health systems and disrupting routine services.
The mortality estimates are based on an analysis published in The Lancet Global Health journal. The analysis was performed by researchers of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
A press release was issued in this regard on Wednesday.
Based on the worst of three scenarios in 118 low- and middle-income countries, the analysis estimates that an additional 1.2 million under-five deaths could occur in just six months due to reductions in routine health service coverage levels and an increase in child wasting, said the release.
In countries with already weak health systems, Covid-19 is causing disruptions in medical supply chains and straining financial and human resources.
Visits to health care centres are declining due to lockdowns, curfews and transport disruptions as communities remain fearful of infection.
In a commentary on the Lancet report, Unicef warns that these disruptions could result in potentially devastating increases in maternal and child deaths.
"In Bangladesh too, uptake of critical health services for under-five children has decreased significantly due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The service utilization for under-five children of age in March 2020 was down 25% compared to March, 2019," added the release.
"A large number of children could die from preventable and treatable conditions if the pandemic leads to substantial reductions in health service coverage.
"Unicef is working closely with the Bangladesh government to help ensure that lifesaving care for children and mothers is available, safe and accessible,” said Tomoo Hozum, Unicef Country Representative in Bangladesh.
The uptake of maternal and newborn health services has also decreased, approximately by 19%.
In addition, key maternal health services such as antenatal care visits and postnatal check-ups at health facilities have decreased substantially, and deliveries in facilities have decreased by 21% for the period of January to March, 2020, compared with October to December 2019.
Due to the pandemic, Bangladesh has had to postpone a measles and rubella immunization campaign targeting 34 million children aged nine months to nine years.
Though routine immunization sessions continue, many outreach sessions have been suspended and the transportation of vaccines remains challenging.
These potential child deaths will be in addition to the 2.5 million children who already die before their fifth birthday every six months in the 118 countries included in the study, threatening to reverse nearly a decade of progress on ending preventable under-five mortality.
Some 56,700 more maternal deaths could also occur in just six months, in addition to the 144,000 deaths that already take place in the same countries over a six-month period.
“Under a worst-case scenario, the global number of children dying before their fifth birthdays could increase for the first time in decades,” said Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of Unicef.
“We must not let mothers and children become collateral damage in the fight against the virus. And we must not let decades of progress on reducing preventable child and maternal deaths be lost,” he added.
In addition to the estimated potential rise in under-five and maternal deaths noted in the Lancet Global Health Journal analysis, Unicef is deeply alarmed by other knock-on effects of the pandemic on children.
As of Wednesday, Bangladesh had confirmed 17,822 coronavirus cases, with the death toll rising to 269 after 19 new fatalities were reported.
Till now the fast-spreading coronavirus has claimed more than 293,000 lives and infected more than 4,364,000 people globally, according to Worldometer.
As many as 1,613,429 people have recovered from Covid-19, which has spread to 210 countries and territories across the world.