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"The indicators in education and poverty in Mexico will be worse after the pandemic"

2020-08-03T23:43:24.231Z


Pressia Arifin-Cabo, deputy representative of Unicef ​​Mexico, talks about the challenges facing children in the Latin American country, one of the most punished by covid-19


One of the most important earthquakes Mexico has experienced so far has not been caused by an earthquake. The coronavirus has plagued the Latin American country and with 439,046 positives and 47,746 deaths, to date, it has made it the third country with the highest number of deaths from covid-19 worldwide. Mexico, which saw the first cases enter the capital through the most affluent neighborhoods, now faces the harsh reality of how the virus is raging against the working classes and families with fewer resources. 

MORE INFORMATION

  • The UN proposes a temporary basic income for 520 million Latin Americans to stop the pandemic
  • The pandemic follows the trail of inequality in Mexico
  • Invisible children, another effect of the pandemic

We spoke to Pressia Arifin-Cabo, Deputy Representative of UNICEF Mexico, who has more than 15 years of experience in managing development programs and humanitarian response in situations of conflict and disasters, about the consequences that childhood in Mexico will suffer from the pandemic. She was the Regional Emergency Specialist for Unicef ​​in South Asia, where she worked in the response to the earthquake in Nepal in 2015 and in the migratory crisis in Afghanistan in 2016. This was answered on the phone, on July 30.  

Question. Mexico has confirmed today - July 30 - that it has exceeded 45,000 deaths from covid-19 and more than 400,000 positives. How is the population living this situation?

Reply.  Clearly, there is a problem of access to public health and many people who cannot even access medical care. At Unicef ​​we are very concerned about the socio-economic impact of covid-19 on children, who appear to be invisible. No one talks about the mental and emotional impact they will have after a year without going to school. Mexico already had bad indicators in education and child poverty and now with the covid-19 they will be worse. In the national survey we conducted last year, we found that households with low incomes in Mexico are 73.5%, while those without children are 57.9%. Furthermore, 48% of the country's families are employed in the informal sector, so it is easy to imagine what situation they are in during the quarantine that they cannot go out or work. Only three out of 10 households with children receive some form of government aid,

Q. A large majority of the Mexican population lives on the formal economy and more than half of the country's children live in poverty. In turn, the UN proposes a temporary basic income for 520 million Latin Americans to stop the pandemic, what would this mean for families and their children?

48% of the country's families are employed in the informal sector, so it is easy to imagine what situation they are in during the quarantine that they cannot leave or work

A. It is a good measure and recommendation, but it will depend on each country and its economic situation to be able to implement it. What this basic income would imply is that each family, regardless of what they earn, will be able to buy food, medicine and will be able to pay their rent. We have realized through the surveys that we do regularly that families are adapting to the pandemic at the cost of not paying some obligations such as electricity, water. They also cope with the situation by suppressing essential daily meals, or reducing portions. In the end they are buying cheaper food, and if they adapt to the circumstances of the covid-19 with these methods, we can assure that the numbers of child malnutrition, particularly those of overweight and obesity, which already suffer one of each, will worsen three school-age children in Mexico. This is very serious, because according to statistics on the number of children who are affected by the virus, the most vulnerable are those affected by this disease. 

P. In fact, in June it was learned that in Mexico the infant mortality rate is three times that of the United States due to covid-19, and one of the causes was obesity ...

A. Yes, this is a very serious problem in Mexico and at Unicef ​​we are working with the Government to ensure that there are prevention measures. We have made food labeling much clearer, and it is beginning to be implemented, but we are aware that much work remains to be done.

Q. In the Unicef ​​2019 annual report they indicate that more than 63% of children have suffered domestic violence, do you suspect that this number has increased in quarantine?

A. Yes, it has clearly increased, although we do not have exact figures yet, we know that calls for domestic violence have grown. The survey that we carried out during the pandemic tells us that children are suffering a lot of stress and this is one of the indicators that indicates that they are experiencing violence in their homes.

Extending the time a child spends out of school makes him more vulnerable to work prematurely to support the family

P. 80% of children in sixth grade have not reached the goals expected of them. With the closing of the schools this situation has been aggravated. Are there already measures to stop this educational gap?

A. In addition to this pre-covid-19 figure, we have found that 78.6% of households with school-age children had difficulty following distance education due to lack of computer or Internet. From Unicef ​​we are working together with the Ministry of Education Mexico to see how the learning that some children have lost can be recovered. We are seeing what are the alternatives to continue studying, although it is difficult. We know that in the State of Chiapas, eight out of 10 children do not have access to the Internet. We are looking at how we can offer low-tech solution calls and thus not only provide educational coverage to who has access to it, but especially to those who do not.

P. In other countries educational programs have been launched through radio or television to spread this learning where the Internet does not reach ...

A. Yes, although we are studying how effective it would be for the population in Mexico. In a survey that we carried out with adolescents, it gave us data that the majority do not listen to the radio, and the majority prefer to have their lessons or their way of communicating with their teachers, be it through WhatsApp or YouTube or social networks, so radio is a very marginal medium. On the other hand, we also have to think about whether teachers have access to these tools. There are people in Mexico who cannot pay the balance of their phones in order to continue communicating with their students and it is a great challenge.

Q. What other challenges are the Mexican population facing in the face of the pandemic?

A. Before the pandemic, economic instability also had collateral consequences on education and violence against children. Now we are also very concerned about food insecurity, which already existed and is very present in some households, but with the covid-19, and according to our survey, one in four households with children is affected by lack of food. Unicef ​​is working in the four most vulnerable states in Mexico, including Tabasco, with the National System for the Integral Development of the Family (SNDIF) to distribute food baskets, so that families have access to a good diet. Unfortunately, and at the same time, there has been an earthquake in Guajaca that has affected 15,000 families, and we are also supporting the crisis there with this measure.

Another challenge is educational. By the time we return to school, we are training and building enough infrastructure so that children can wash their hands at school, something key in this pandemic. In Mexico, unfortunately, there are many that do not have them. We are also distributing school supplies for families who do not have resources. 

Q. Another of the departments in which Unicef ​​provides a response in the country is that of migrant children arriving in Mexico. What is the current situation?

The socio-economic impact that comes after the pandemic is going to be gigantic

A. At the moment the flow is less, at least officially. The concern is that it is done with those who arrive and have covid-19. With or without disease, it is necessary to determine the best interests of the child because one who has the virus and arrives in Mexico should not be returned just for that and in those circumstances. What we are doing is raising awareness, together with the National Immigration Institute, in addition to preparing the shelters with hygiene supplies, and constantly monitoring their situation. Their circumstances are very exceptional and they should have access to special protection. 

Q. One of the consequences of prolonged school closings is that child labor increases, is this issue vital in Mexico?

A.  Child labor is one of the ways that families try to survive in this type of situation. We cannot yet talk about whether or not the official number of child labor has increased, but we know that prolonging the time that a child spends out of school makes him more vulnerable to work prematurely to support the family.

P.  Unicef ​​has renewed the 2020-2025 program to provide humanitarian coverage in Mexico. We assume that covid-19 has changed the priorities in this program ...

A. It was a long discussion of our team because we do not know when the pandemic will end. But it is not a matter of changing priorities, because the indicators from before in Mexico were not different, they are only going to get worse. We are going to have the same problems in nutrition, in education, in immigration, in violence ... In short, our approach now is more how to duplicate efforts and how to pull back the delay that many indicators will suffer from this pandemic.

Q.  Has solidarity grown in Mexico after the pandemic?

A. We don't have that feeling. It is one of the worst situations I have seen, because the pandemic has affected everyone and it is difficult for humanitarian aid to target other countries. If we compare it with the earthquake we suffered in 2017, there is almost no help or support from abroad, among other things, because everyone is experiencing the same crisis, so we have to work with what little there is. Our office is financially supported by the private sector and companies are experiencing a very delicate moment as well. The socioeconomic impact that comes after the pandemic is going to be gigantic.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2020-08-03

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