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Abstract
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Although readers may already be tired of hearing or reading about issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, an "invisible" consequence of this tragedy has been the exposure of children and adolescents to situations of abuse with, as yet, unknown consequences.
The pandemic and the measures adopted to deal with it had considerable adverse effects on the health of children and adolescents. Among them, it is worth noting the drop in vaccination coverage, mental health problems and other consequences of prolonged social isolation, and the difficulty in receiving adequate health care.
Last year, Park and Walsh published an interesting article titled "COVID-19 and the unseen pandemic of child abuse."1 The authors describe the effects of lockdown measures on the rise in cases of various forms of child maltreatment. They also mention that the United Nations described how the response of Member States to the pandemic increased risk factors for child abuse: child abuse increases during public health emergencies; there is an association between the implementation of lockdowns and spikes in calls to child abuse helplines; lockdowns push children closer to their abusers; there are barriers to accessing community help able to recognize and report child abuse; and child abuse...
Language: es |