Orphanhood and Caregiver Loss Among Children Based on New Global Excess COVID-19 Death Estimates

Susan Hillis, Joel-Pascal Ntwali N’konzi, William Msemburi, Lucie Cluver, Andrés Villaveces, Seth Flaxman, H. Juliette T. Unwin
September 2022
Cite DOI URL

Abstract

The availability of new excess mortality data enables us to update global minimum estimates of COVID-19 orphanhood and caregiver death among children. Consequences for children can be devastating, including institutionalization, abuse, traumatic grief, mental health problems, adolescent pregnancy, poor educational outcomes, and chronic and infectious diseases. Global totals and country comparisons were previously hampered by inconsistencies in COVID-19 testing and incomplete death reporting. The new orphanhood estimates derived here based on excess deaths provide a comprehensive measure of COVID-19’s long-term impact on orphanhood and caregiver loss.

Type
Journal article
Publication
JAMA Pediatrics
Seth Flaxman
Seth Flaxman
Associate Professor

My research is on scalable methods and flexible models for spatiotemporal statistics and Bayesian machine learning, applied to public policy and social science.