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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Sunil BhopalORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2023 Hughes et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction: The Covid-19 pandemic, and societal attempts to control it, have touched almost every aspect of people’s lives around the world, albeit in unequal ways. In particular, there is considerable concern about the way that stringent ‘lockdowns’, as implemented in Kenya and many other countries, affected young children, especially those living in informal settlements. However, to date, there has been little research attempting to unpack and understand how the pandemic has impacted on the care of young children. Methods: In-depth telephone interviews were conducted with 21 parents/carers of children aged under five years living in three Nairobi slums between May and September 2021 exploring the ways in which Covid-19, and policies to control the pandemic, impacted on their household and the care of their child/children. Results: The impacts of Covid-19 control measures on the care of children have been widely felt, deep and multiple. The impact of economic hardship has been significant, reportedly undermining food security and access to services including healthcare and childcare. Respondents reported an associated increase in domestic and community violence. Many people relied on help from others; this was most commonly reported to be in the form of variable levels of flexibility from landlords and help from other community members. No direct harms from Covid-19 disease were reported by respondents. Conclusion: The impacts of Covid-19 control measures on the care of young children in informal settlements have been indirect but dramatic. Given the breadth and depth of these reported impacts, and the particular vulnerability of young children, deeper consideration ought to inform decisions about approaches to implementation of stringent disease control measures in future. In addition, these findings imply a need for both short- and long-term policy responses to ameliorate the impacts described.
Author(s): Hughes RC, Muendo R, Bhopal SS, Onyango S, Kimani-Murage E, Kirkwood BR, Hill Z, Kitsao-Wekulo P
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: PLOS Global Public Health
Year: 2023
Volume: 3
Issue: 8
Online publication date: 30/08/2023
Acceptance date: 10/04/2023
Date deposited: 17/06/2024
ISSN (electronic): 2767-3375
Publisher: Public Library of Science
URL: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001127
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0001127
Data Access Statement: We are happy to make available to all qualified researchers on request the underlying data drawn on for this research. Given the challenges of genuine anonymisation of qualitative data, we have not posted the data to an open repository, but we are happy to facilitate sharing requests via email to researchdatamanagement@lshtm.ac.uk.
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