Direct and indirect effects of the covid-19 pandemic and response in South Asia

Direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and response in South Asia

Commissioned by

© United Nations Children’s Fund

Publication Date: March 2021

Address: UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA)

P.O. Box 5815, Lekhnath Marg, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel: [phone] Email: [e-mail] Website: www.unicef.org/rosa/

This report was commissioned by UNICEF and was implemented by SickKids, Center for Global Child Health, to evaluate the direct and indirect effects the COVID-19 pandemic in South Asia.

For SickKids, this work was led by Professor Zulfiqar A. Bhutta and the Research Team includes Aatekah Owais (SickKids), Susan Horton (U Waterloo) Arjumand Rizvi, (AKU) Imran Nisar (AKU), Jai Das (AKU), James Wright (SickKids)

Edward Mills (Cytel), Ofir Harari (Cytel), Jamie Forrest (Cytel) Warren Stevens (Medicus Economics)

For UNICEF, this work was led by Paul David Rutter (UNICEF ROSA) and coordinated by Atnafu Getachew Asfaw (UNICEF ROSA) and Ralfh Moreno Garcia (UNICEF HQ)

We acknowledge colleagues in UNICEF HQ, UNICEF Country Offices in South Asia, IFPRI-New Delhi, WHO regional Office for South East Asia and UNFPA regional Office for Asia-Pacific

for their contributions in reviewing drafts as well as getting the data from National Health Information Systems in respective countries.