President Donald Trump’s attacks on the World Health Organization and the United Nations are particularly graceless amid loud alarm bells about the damage Covid-19 is inflicting on more than 1.5 billion children and youth around the world.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres raised a new alert today to protect children from more damage by Covid-19 pandemic measures affecting education and economic life.

Children are not the face of this pandemic. But they risk being among its biggest victims.

School and university closures in 188 countries have left 369 million school children without school meals, which were their main reliable source of daily nutrition.

Hundreds of thousands of children could die compared with the situation before the pandemic because of loss of their parent’s jobs and looming global recession.

In a single year, almost 3 years of progress in reducing infant mortality would be reversed.

“The poorest and most vulnerable members of society are being hardest hit, both by the pandemic and the response,” Guterres said. “I appeal to families everywhere, and leaders at all levels: protect our children.”

An estimated 42-66 million children could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the pandemic this year, adding to the estimated 386 million children already in extreme poverty in 2019.

Thankfully, children have been largely spared from the direct health effects of COVID-19 but their lives are being totally upended.

All children, of all ages, and in all countries, are being affected, in particular by the socio-economic impacts and, in some cases, by mitigation measures that may inadvertently do more harm than good.

This is a universal crisis and, for some children, the impact will be lifelong.

Reduced household income will force poor families to cut back on essential health and food expenditures, particularly affecting children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers.

Polio vaccination campaigns have been suspended. Measles immunization campaigns have stopped in at least 23 countries.

And as health services become overwhelmed, sick children are less able to access care.

Family stress levels are rising, with children out of school, their communities in lockdown and a global recession biting deeper.

Worse, children are both victims and witnesses of domestic violence and abuse. With schools closed, an important early warning mechanism is missing.

There is also a danger that girls will drop out of school, leading to an increase in teenage pregnancies.

“What started as a public health emergency has snowballed into a formidable test for the global promise to leave no one behind,” Guterres said.

He called for prioritizing the “most vulnerable – children in conflict situations; child refugees and displaced persons; children living with disabilities”.

“We must commit to building back better by using the recovery from COVID-19 to pursue a more sustainable and inclusive economy and society.”

The UN report urges governments and donors to prioritize education for all children. It recommends they provide economic assistance, including cash transfers, to low-income families and minimize disruptions to social and healthcare services for children.

We have a chance to not only defeat this pandemic, but to transform the way we nurture and invest in the young generation,” the report said.

“But we have to act now, we have to act decisively, and at very large scale. This is not a gradual issue, it is a clarion call for the world’s children, the world’s future.”

Further threats to children’s health through water-borne diseases could arise because water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services are at risk of disruption by lockdown measures.

Over 700 children under five die every day from diarrheal diseases related to inadequate WASH services. This number could rise sharply if existing services collapse in poorer countries.

This is alarming given the critical importance of hand washing in preventing infection and controlling the spread of COVID-19.