COVID-19 and Sub-Saharan African Children: Epidemiology, Direct and Indirect Impacts

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the lives of many people worldwide. While studies on the effects of COVID-19 on adults are well-outlined, the effects of COVID-19 on children appear to have largely been invisible and minimised. African leaders have largely ignored the effects of COVID-19 on children in favour of more pressing issues, which include food security, adult COVID-19, economic turmoil and internal political wars. However, for Africa, where half of the population is under the age of 18, the effects of COVID-19 on children need to be carefully examined. Children represent the present and future of Africa’s youthful population. This study seeks to highlight COVID-19’s epidemiology and the effects of the pandemic on children on three fronts, namely, the economic, education and health sectors. South Africa has been the hardest hit country with COVID-19 and consequently most studies on African children are from South Africa.