Open AccessChildren on the brink: Risks for child protection, sexual abuse, and related mental health problems in the COVID-19 pandemic
Author(s) -
Sheila Ramaswamy,
Shekhar Seshadri
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
indian journal of psychiatry/indian journal of psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.485
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1998-3794
pISSN - 0019-5545
DOI - 10.4103/psychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_1032_20
Subject(s) - psychosocial , mental health , pandemic , psychiatry , psychology , child abuse , sexual abuse , child sexual abuse , child protection , covid-19 , medicine , suicide prevention , poison control , developmental psychology , medical emergency , nursing , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
In developing contexts such as India, children in adversity form a high-risk group, one that cannot be subsumed under the general category of children, who are generally considered as a vulnerable group in disaster and crisis situations. Child mental health issues in contexts of protection risks and childhood adversity tend to be over-looked in such crises. This article focuses on examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its socio-economic consequences on children in adversity, describing the increased child protection and psychosocial risks they are placed at, during and in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis and its lockdown situation. It specifically links the lockdown and the ensuing economic issues to sexuality and abuse-related risks, as occur in contexts of child labour, child sex work and trafficking, child marriage and child sexual abuse, and that result in immediate and long-term mental health problems in children. It proposes a disaster risk reduction lens to offer recommendations to address the emerging child protection, psychosocial and mental health concerns.