COVID Lockdowns Cause Worldwide Poverty, Hunger, and Health Care Crises
Editorial Team
January 16, 2021
140 million people will be thrown into living in extreme poverty on less than $1.90 per day in 2020.
251 million people may be pushed into extreme poverty by the pandemic, bringing the total number to 1 billion by 2030.
86 million children could be driven into poverty across the globe.
Between March 25 and April 10 of 2020, a study found:
40% of adults reported that their families lost jobs, work hours, or work-related income due to the pandemic.
31% of adults reported that their families could not pay the rent, mortgage, or utility bills were food insecure or went without medical care because of the cost during the last 30 days.
68% of families below the federal poverty level reported that their families experiences at least one of these hardships.
World Hunger Is Rising
Under lockdowns, there is a 75-100% reduction of essential nutritional services in low-to-middle-income countries.
The number of people in low-to-middle-income countries facing food insecurity will double to 265 million by the end of 2020.
An estimated 6-7 million children could suffer from severe malnutrition in the first 12 months of the pandemic.
10,000 children may perish per month globally during the first 12 months of the pandemic.
9 to 14 percent of adults with children reported that their children didn’t eat enough in because they couldn’t afford it. That's millions of children.
1 in 6 Americans could face hunger.
Healthcare Treatment and Diagnosis Are Dropping
Less people are getting screened for cancer. Screenings fell by the following:
In the U.K, 2.1 million people were waiting for various cancer screenings during April.
In the U.S, diagnoses of cancer dropped by 46.4%compared to the 2018 numbers. The cancers include breast, colorectal, lung, pancreatic, gastric, and esophageal.
Fewer people are getting treated for diseases.
Chemotherapy admissions dropped by 45-66%.
Urgent referrals for early cancer diagnosis decreased 70-89%.
Heart attack treatments in 9 major U.S hospitals decreased by 38%.
In Spain, diagnostic procedures for cardiological illnesses dropped by 56%. Other procedures dropped by as much as 81%.
Deaths from Alzheimer’s and dementia increased by more than 20 percent above normal during the summer.
Stuck Inside, Domestic Abuse Is Metastasizing
EU reported a 60% rise in emergency calls about domestic violence.
Continuing lockdowns could result in an extra 31 million cases of gender-based violence across the globe.
Physical intimate partner violence has almost doubled between March and May 2020.
Charities that raise funds for men who suffer domestic abuse had pleas for help jump by 60%.
As schools closed down, there has been a widespread decline in reports of child abuse, yet an increase in evidence of it. For the US, this means 212,500 unreported allegations of child abuse because of the lockdown.
Australian federal police recorded a 136% increase in online child sex exploitation material,and the Philippine government reports a 260% increase.
The National Sexual Assault Hotline recorded a 22% increase in calls from people younger than 18.
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