A Data-Free Digital Platform to Reach Families With Young Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Online Survey Study

Assessing the prevalence of young children living in households prepared for COVID-19 in 56 low- and middle-income countries

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic and governments' attempts to contain it are negatively affecting young children's health and development in ways we are only beginning to understand and measure. Responses to the pandemic are driven largely by confining children and families to their homes. This study aims to assess the levels of and associated socioeconomic disparities in household preparedness for protecting young children under the age of five from being exposed to communicable diseases, such as COVID-19, in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

METHODS

Using data from nationally representative household surveys in 56 LMICs since 2016, we estimated the percentages of young children under the age of five living in households prepared for communicable diseases (e.g., COVID-19) and associated residential and wealth disparities at the country- and aggregate-level. Preparedness was defined on the basis of space for quarantine, adequacy of toilet facilities and hand hygiene, mass media exposure at least once a week, and phone ownership. Disparities within countries were measured as the absolute gap in two domains-household wealth and residential area - and compared across regions and country income groups.

RESULTS

The final data set included 766,313 children under age five. On average, 19.4% of young children in the 56 countries lived in households prepared for COVID-19, ranging from 0.6% in Ethiopia in 2016 to 70.9% in Tunisia in 2018. In close to 90% of countries (50), fewer than 50% of young children lived in prepared households. Young children in rural areas or in the poorest households were less likely to live in prepared households than their counterparts.

CONCLUSIONS

A large portion of young children under the age of five in LMICs were living in households that did not meet all preparedness guidelines for preventing COVID-19 and caring for patients at home. This study highlights the need to ensure all families in LMICs have the means to prevent the spread of the pandemic or other communicable illnesses to young children during pandemics.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on College Students: An Online Survey

The COVID-19 pandemic, since its beginning in December 2019, has altered every aspect of human life. In Vietnam, the pandemic is in its fourth peak and is the most serious so far, putting Vietnam in the list of top 30 countries with the highest daily cases. In this paper, we wish to identify the magnitude of its impact on college students in Vietnam. As far as we’re concerned, college students belong to the most affected groups in the population, especially in big cities that have been hitting hard by the virus. We conducted an online survey from 31 May 2021 to 9 June 2021, asking students from four representative regions in Vietnam to describe how the pandemic has changed their lifestyle and studying environment, as well as their awareness, compliance, and psychological state. The collected answers were processed to eliminate unreliable ones then prepared for sentiment analysis. To analyze the relationship among the variables, we performed a variety of statistical tests, including Shapiro–Wilk, Mc Nemar, Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon, Kruskal–Wallis, and Pearson’s Chi-square tests. Among 1875 students who participated, many did not embrace online education. A total of 64.53% of them refused to think that online education would be the upcoming trend. During the pandemic, nearly one quarter of students were in a negative mood. About the same number showed signs of depression. We also observed that there were increasing patterns in sleeping time, body weight, and sedentary lifestyle. However, they maintained a positive attitude toward health protection and compliance with government regulations (65.81%). As far as we know, this is the first project to conduct such a large-scale survey analysis on students in Vietnam. The findings of the paper help us take notice of financial and mental needs and perspective issues for indigent students, which contributes to reducing the pandemic’s negative effects and going forwards to a better and more sustainable life.