Saying that risks to child mental health and well-being due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic are “considerable,” acting United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Country Representative Irfan Akhtar has highlighted the need for a full understanding of the extent to which children are affected to ensure their protection.
Akhtar’s comments come in wake of recent surveys conducted by UNICEF Guyana and the Health Ministry, which have found that the pandemic is having a serious impact on youth mental wellness, with many adolescents across the country reporting stress.
In a joint release, UNICEF Guyana and the Health Ministry yesterday highlighted that the surveys found that the three main concerns that contributed to stress during the current pandemic were concern about the risk of being exposed to the coronavirus (57.6%), uncertainty about the future (44.9%) and adapting to a different lifestyle (41.7%).
They also found that the top five ways in which adolescent participants were affected emotionally and mentally by the lifestyle changes due to the pandemic were sleeping too little (57%), fear (54.8%), worry (51.1%), loneliness (48.9%), and irritability (48.1).
Additionally, due to the changes consequent to the pandemic, 44.4% of adolescent respondents communicated that they were frequently anxious, 41.5% reported that they were crying often, 38.5% divulged that they had increased drug use, 34.8% said they withdrew from others, 34.1% said they were regularly depressed, 31.9% said they felt hopeless, 25.2% frequently considered acts of self-harm, and 20.7% reported persistent disturbing thoughts.
It was also noted that approximately three in ten (30%) respondents aged 15 to 19 years have no one to share their problems with.
The release explained that as part of UNICEF’s wider response to COVID-19 in Guyana, in partnership with the Health Ministry it conducted three rounds of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) surveys to understand the situation, monitor the behaviour change continuum and make evidence-informed interventions. Based on inferences drawn from the findings of rounds one and two, conducted in July, it said it was felt that there was a need for a deeper understanding of the mental wellness of children, and as a result a third round of the KAP survey was conducted with special emphasis on mental wellness.
According to the release, Akhtar said understanding the extent to which children are affected is “critical” and there is need for a rethink to guide the response and better protect children.
The release quoted Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony as saying that the ministry has been able to develop a risk communication strategy based on the studies. “We are confident that by taking a more scientific approach, we will be able to identify the myths and the misconceptions, and through our risk communication programme, we have started to address these issues,” he said.
As a result of the findings, a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach has been recommended to address the well-being of children during and after COVID-19. The release said a full report includes a number of other recommendations for actions that the Government of Guyana, other organizations and families can take to reduce and mitigate some of the harmful impacts of the pandemic. “We note the recommendations and our staff at all our health care facilities will be working to implement them. This includes providing counselling and other psychosocial support,” Anthony said. “In addition, the Government of Guyana recognizes that there must be a holistic approach, a whole government approach, and ultimately a whole of society approach. These KAP studies will undoubtedly assist Guyana in assisting our citizens,” he added.
