Rapid Assessment of Key Monitoring Indicators Measuring the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Child Wellbeing in South Africa

The Department of Social Development of South Africa in collaboration with UNICEF,  commissioned the rapid assessment of the wellbeing of children to determine the immediate impacts that may result from governments’ response to the COVID-19 and to identify and provide support to those at high risk of hunger, violence, abuse and neglect.

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This assessment is being undertaken as part of efforts to gather key data for decision making at the time when South Africa and the world are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of commissioning of this research, there were no known studies of the proposed scale that had reported on the effect of the pandemic on vulnerable children in South Africa including their exposure to violence, poor health and food security. This national study includes gathering child-wellbeing data using the Real Time Monitoring Tool from a sample of 5000 children from 18 districts and 9 provinces.

The primary objectives of the rapid assessment include:

A) Assessing the state of wellbeing among children in targeted “hot spots” where available data indicate a high risk of hunger, violence, abuse and neglect among children.

B) Assessing the extent to which vulnerable children and families are coping with the government’s COVID-19 epidemic control measures and what they are doing to minimise risks of acquiring infections

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Preliminary findings highlight various areas of vulnerability among children in South Africa and confirm high levels of exposure to violence, hunger and poor health.