Egyptian clown Ahmed Naser, performs to entertain and help children to put on face masks as a preventive measure amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Darb Al-Ban district at Islamic Cairo, Egypt April 13, 2020. Picture taken April 13, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo
Reuters: U.N. warns economic downturn could kill hundreds of thousands of children in 2020
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of children could die this year due to the global economic downturn sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and tens of millions more could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis, the United Nations warned on Thursday.
The world body also said in a risk report that nearly 369 million children across 143 countries who normally rely on school meals for a reliable source of daily nutrition have now been forced to look elsewhere.
“We must act now on each of these threats to our children,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. “Leaders must do everything in their power to cushion the impact of the pandemic. What started as a public health emergency has snowballed into a formidable test for the global promise to leave no one behind.”
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WNU Editor: Economic downturns always bring an increase in the death rate. Doubly so in poor and developing countries. Here is an easy prediction. When this is all over, there will be a debate on whether these lock-down measures caused more harm than good.
