Children have been more severely affected by the indirect impact of the pandemic than by the virus infection itself.  The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted child health through increases in poverty, loss of education, food insecurity, violence as well as increased strain on health systems and reduction in access to health services. These collateral effects of the pandemic have stricken most in resources limited settings where increase in child mortality is a major concern. There is a risk that these collateral effects will be further exacerbated when hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses will be rolled out in the latter part of this year in low-income countries. The amount of healthcare workers needed to deliver those vaccines may push away services that we already see are damaged and children will be paying the price for this.

Florencia and Melissa are both members of the Paediatric Days Content Committee. They answer some questions about neonatal essential care, which will be the focus of our first session on April 15, 2021.

Dr. Hilaire Pato Mukobelwa, who answers our questions, is an experienced paediatrician who has been working in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Rwanda, in Cameroon, in Niger or in Afghanistan. Part of Médecins Sans Frontières medical staff since January 2017, Dr. Hilaire currently holds the position of Hospital Clinical Lead in Bentiu POC (South Sudan). Prior to the Paediatric Days event (April 15 and 16, 2021), he shares his first-hand testimony coping with ABR in humanitarian settings.