AUTHOR=Buonsenso Danilo , Cinicola Bianca , Kallon Memenatu Ngaima , Iodice Francesco TITLE=Child Healthcare and Immunizations in Sub-Saharan Africa During the COVID-19 Pandemic JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics VOLUME=8 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2020.00517 DOI=10.3389/fped.2020.00517 ISSN=2296-2360 ABSTRACT=

Since COVID-19 in the pediatric population is infrequently severe, the indirect costs of the pandemic, related to the measures implemented to deal with the spread of the virus, can be worse than the infection itself. To assess this issue, we evaluated the number of children vaccinated or evaluated for the most common diseases in a poor village in Sierra Leone, showing a worrisome drop in vaccinations performed and children evaluated for acute diseases. Our preliminary findings highlight that support is needed to guarantee basic services to children during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in poor settings where preventive measures can be lifesaving in the long term.