This time last year we were getting the first reports of a new deadly respiratory infection in Wuhan, China. As we mark the end of 2020 it is hard to look beyond the suffering, disruption, and economic dislocation triggered by Covid-19. The world before lockdowns and endless hours of Zoom meetings feels like another age. But it is now critical that we learn the lessons of the last year, look at the evidence, and work together to make 2021 a year of recovery.
Covid-19 has been a very visible public health crisis for adults but some of the deepest scars will be carried by children. The early warning signs are clearly visible. Child poverty is rising, along with malnutrition. Recent modelling work points to a potential surge in child mortality as major diseases like malaria and pneumonia go untreated. With 500 million children still out of school, and many more returning to under-funded education systems, the pandemic has created perfect storm conditions for an unprecedented learning crisis. The gap between humanitarian need and financing has never been greater. Here in the UK Covid-19 has magnified social fault lines, driving an increase in child poverty, and widening already extreme learning disparities.
A window on the threats now facing children
In response, Save the Children’s nutrition clinics in Yemen and South Sudan are responding to a surge in acute malnutrition cases. In Sierra Leone and Ethiopia, we are working with governments to support schools and communities struggling to keep education alive. In Nigeria and Kenya, we are training and equipping community health workers. Our Emergency Health Unit has been operating a Covid-19 isolation ward for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and is now supporting vaccination programmes in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Working through local community partners in the UK we have provided emergency cash support to over 10,000 children, along with teaching material for over-stretched parents.
Our efforts to improve our culture are intrinsically linked to the impact we can have for children. We have made some progress on the anti-racism commitments we set out earlier this year, although we are very much still on a journey. I’m also thrilled to be launching a new Youth Advisory Board to transform the way we involve children in our decision making.
None of this would be possible without two things. First, our staff have gone way beyond the call of duty. From our frontline technical teams to the IT team that made home-working possible, our fundraisers, campaigners, support staff and volunteers, everyone has stepped up. Second, our supporters and partners have made it possible for us to reach more children, and to make a difference in some of the toughest places. For that, a huge and heartfelt thank you!
Rays of hope amidst the 2020 gloom
We now have a series of vaccines coming on stream. That is testimony to the dedication, ingenuity, and creativity of scientists, companies, and philanthropists. Going from zero to the delivery of a new vaccine in a year is an extraordinary accomplishment. Government action has also made a difference in other areas, notably by pulling the fiscal and monetary policy levers needed to prevent a full-scale depression. Public attitudes have shifted in some positive directions. While the reputation of populist political leaders proclaiming their ’world class’ credential may have been dented, the quiet competence of leaders in other countries has been registered – and health workers, teachers and care workers have emerged as the real heroes of the crisis.
There is a flip side to all of this. The response to the pandemic should be judged by whether the scientific breakthroughs are available to everyone, irrespective of the country they live in and their ability to pay. This is a virus that must be beaten everywhere. There is no justification – economic, scientific or moral – for allowing vaccines, diagnostic treatment, oxygen, and other treatment to ‘trickle down’ to poor countries after citizens in advanced economies have been served. Yet the major initiative aimed at achieving equitable distribution – ACT-A – is woefully underfunded. The pandemic has also provided a reminder of the deep inequities in global health. While the world rightly focuses on shortages of medical oxygen for the treatment of Covid-19, the medical oxygen deficits that contribute to over one million child deaths each year from pneumonia, malaria, sepsis and other diseases continue. We are working closely with the Every Breath Counts coalition to address this issue.
Redoubling our efforts
As we end this year, I’m acutely aware that next year we will have to redouble our efforts on many fronts. We have major initiatives planned on malnutrition, child and maternal health, education, and child poverty. Ultimately, though, we will only drive the results we want to see by working in partnership with others. That is true at the country-level, where we need to do more through local partners and communities. But it is also true globally. We are at our best when we work in partnerships with others.
Perhaps the most enduring legacy of the pandemic will be the reminder it provided of the things that matter most – time with loved ones and friends, our values, our shared humanity. In these polarised times, the festive season is a moment for reflecting on what we have in common. Our founder, Eglantyne Jebb, powerfully captured one thing that binds us. “The only international language,” she said, “is the cry of a child.”
At a time when the hopes, the health and the lives of so many children are under threat, it has never been more important to respond to that cry – or to defend the rights that Eglantyne Jebb stood for.
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