Peer-reviewed article
The COVID-19 restrictions, child services and the well-being of children in South Africa
Lochner Marais, Abraham Matamanda, Frances Gbadegesin, John Ntema, Abongile Mgwele et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5This study looks at how South Africa's COVID-19 lockdown rules affected children between 2020 and 2022. It found that although children faced little health risk from the virus, they were still hit hard by school closures, halted school feeding programs, and bans on sports. The government's response focused mainly on protecting adults and the health system, largely ignoring children's development needs. Children from poorer backgrounds suffered the most, and children's own views were not considered in policy decisions.
Key points
- COVID-19 posed little danger to children directly
- Schools were closed, feeding schemes halted, and organised sports banned
- Government response focused on physical health and adult/health system protection, not child well-being
- Children's voices were not heard in the pandemic response
- Children from low-income environments were particularly severely affected
Limitations
The abstract does not specify the research methods, sample size, or data sources used to reach these conclusions, making it hard to assess the strength of the evidence.
Abstract
AbstractCovid-19 posed little danger to children. Nevertheless, the South African government imposed lockdown measures that impeded children’s education, play and food. Schools were closed, feeding schemes were halted and organised sports were banned. In this study of South African children’s experience during the 2020–22 pandemic, we use the capabilities approach, particularly Nussbaum’s ten capabilities, to assess how the lockdown measures affected their development. The one-dimensional nature of the government response was evident in its focus on physical health and safeguarding adults and the health system, at the expense of children’s well-being. Children were masked and their voices were not heard. Despite being far less at risk of illness or death than adults, children and young people were disproportionately affected by government regulations. Children from low-income environments were particularly severely affected.