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The coronavirus epidemic worldwide has worsened the mental state of children and young adults, which governments must pay much more attention to, warned the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in a report published on Tuesday.
"The consequences of the pandemic are significant, but this is only the tip of the iceberg: even before the virus, many children were struggling with health or psychological problems, to which not enough attention was paid," stated Henrietta Fore, Director of UNICEF.
According to the compilers of the report examining the mental state of minors, one out of every child between the ages of 10 and 19 suffers from a diagnosed mental disorder, and nearly 46,000 teenagers commit suicide every year, making it one of the five most common causes of death in this age group.
According to the organization, the situation worsened a lot during the epidemic, partly due to the quarantine measures. "The restrictions have directly affected at least one in seven children and have set back the education of more than 1.6 billion children," they add, highlighting that the collapse of daily routines, missed leisure activities, and worry about family income and health left in many young people in the form of pent-up anger, worry and anxiety about the future.
In the report, UNICEF also called on the governments of the world to allocate more money to the treatment of mental disorders.
Source: Mandarin
