Pathology

Disease

Child protection

Child sexual abuse

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Poison control

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Pandemic

Mental health

Psychiatry

Nursing

Developmental psychology

Psychosocial

Psychology

Child abuse

Medical emergency

Sexual abuse

Suicide prevention

Medicine

Indian Journal of Psychiatry

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.

Children on the brink: Risks for child protection, sexual abuse, and related mental health problems in the COVID-19 pandemic