The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented event in most of our lifetimes. The outbreak is killing lives and livelihoods globally with collapsing health systems, disrupted education, and families struggling to survive.
Communities across the world are rising to the occasion. Frontline workers and healthcare professionals are risking their lives to safeguard patients. All the while, they are inventing new ways to communicate public health messages.
Through exceptional donors like you, our team at Ketto is doing our best to do our bit for the next generation. We are bringing education crowdfunding to their doorstep. Thus, we are ensuring that children are learning at home without compromising on their health.
With your unwavering support, Ketto has been helping organisations crowdfund to provide education with smartphones, tablet PCs, and internet access to children across India. Over the following weeks, ngo’s plan on extending help to thousands of youngsters in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Bihar, among others.
With Ketto’s crowdfunding platform organisations and NGO’S draw attention to certain priorities to guarantee children’s education, safety, and wellbeing during the pandemic.
1. Maintain children’s learning
As learning inequities deepen, marginalized children pay the highest price. 346 million young people in India do not have internet access to pursue remote learning during the pandemic. Some children have always relied on school-based nutrition programs. School closures are depriving them of the meals they require to learn and flourish.
This is not the time to thrift on national education expenditures. Governments should instead invest in education and work together to close the digital divide. If the global community works together, we can link 3.5 billion young people to the internet by 2030. Thus, we would ensure that every child, everywhere, can learn online.
2. Assist families in meeting their basic requirements and caring for their children
COVID-19 will have the greatest socio-economic impact on the most marginalized youngsters.
Poverty has always been a looming concern. The COVID-19 response measures risk pushing impoverished sections of society even further into poverty. Governing authorities need to draft robust social programs and policies that connect families to quality education, health care, and nutrition.
Cash transfers and food and nutrition assistance are examples of social protection. This comprises governments assisting in protecting jobs and collaborating with employers to provide proper support to working parents.
Millions of children are already on the verge of poverty. Prompt action is required to diminish the social and economic repercussions of the pandemic response on this section of society.
3. Children who are refugees and migrants, and those who have been harmed by conflict, should be protected
This is a reality even without a pandemic. Children who are refugees, migrants, or affected by conflict confront appalling human rights violations and safety hazards. Access to basic healthcare and services is limited for many children. Their living conditions make social distancing impossible.
Through Ketto’s platform various organisations is appealing to the international community to unite in favor of these children the pandemic has separated from their families. We have to safeguard the right to safety of children on the move or in crises. If we want to stand in solidarity, we must include these children in strategic COVID-19 responses.
4. Prevent children from being subjected to violence, exploitation, and abuse
Children living in areas with limited mobility and socio-economic degradation face a higher risk of violence, exploitation, and abuse.
Because of school closures and the ensuing isolation, domestic and online violence have been under-reported. Underage victims of such abuse are cut off from teachers, social workers, and other essential sources of support. At the same time, children may begin to experience the added stress and stigma attached to poverty.
Therefore, governments must prioritize children’s violence prevention and response programs. When planning for social distancing and other COVID-19 responses, they must maintain and adjust these services. They must account for the drastically different dangers girls and children from the most vulnerable social sections face.
Besides, illnesses have separated some youngsters from their parents for long periods. Social isolation has deprived some more children of their liberty. Governments and organizations must work together to prepare for an influx of youngsters requiring distant protection and mental health solutions.
5. Provide water, sanitation, and hygiene to children
It has never been more crucial to protect ourselves and others through good hand washing and hygiene practices. Basic water and sanitation facilities, however, remain out of reach for many youngsters.
Some children are cut off from clean drinking water because they live in distant or impoverished areas with untreated or polluted water bodies. Others do not have access to services because they have no concrete housing—instead, they live in slums or on pavements.
Approximately 40% of the world’s population still lacks access to basic handwashing facilities at home, including soap and water. This figure jumps to nearly 75% in the least developed countries. UNICEF has been urging governments to put the most vulnerable children first.
6. Maintain the health and nutrition of your children
International initiatives to strengthen health systems will go a long way toward combating the virus. This includes measures like:
- Ensuring supplies and protective equipment reach impacted populations
- Teaching health workers how to prevent, identify, and treat COVID-19
Overburdened health systems, however, pose a greater concern than COVID-19 patients. Children in the poorest parts of the world are at risk of not obtaining basic or critical medical services. They lack measures that protect them from even preventable diseases like pneumonia, malaria, and diarrhea.
Supply chain and healthcare disruptions are threatening to undo recent advances in children’s health, nutrition, and development. This may potentially lead to a major increase in child mortality.
Fundraisers on Ketto are committed to:
Working with governments, authorities, and global health partners to ensure critical supplies and protective equipment reach the world’s most vulnerable people.
Prioritizing the delivery of life-saving medications, nutrition, and vaccines. Ketto collaborates closely with governments and logistical networks to reduce the impact of travel restrictions on these commodities’ delivery.
Working with partners to get water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities to the most vulnerable communities as soon as possible.
Providing critical public health messaging and recommendations to slow the virus’s spread and reduce mortality.
Supporting governments in prioritizing schools in their reopening preparations and taking all necessary precautions to ensure safe reopening.
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