Unintended Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic, on the Health and Wellbeing of Children and Young People

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic, which emerged at the end of 2019, is having a global effect on health, wellbeing, and the economy. Older people are more at risk of COVID-19 infection and death. However, there is emerging evidence that children and young adults may be at great risk of its unintended consequences. These include months if not years of lost schooling and social interaction at key periods of development, the disappearance of training opportunities and routes to employment, and an increase in abuse and neglect of children during lockdown. The transference of health services and resources in reaction to the pandemic is likely to cause disruption to routine surveillance of child health and immunisation schedules, as well as maternity services and practices, and child and adolescent mental health services. Furthermore, existing disadvantage may be exacerbated with the consequence being widening health and educational inequality. The experience of lockdown differs widely depending on individual circumstances.

This special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) welcomes manuscripts that broadly explore the unintended consequences of the pandemic on children and young people, as well as potential interventions given that the effects of COVID-19 will be felt globally for some time to come.

Dr. Claire E Hastie
Dr. Frederick Ho
Dr. Michael Fleming
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.