IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i11p5618-d561455.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“People Will Continue to Suffer If the Virus Is Around”: A Qualitative Analysis of Sub-Saharan African Children’s Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Samantha Watters Kallander

    (Department of Behavioral and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

  • Rebecca Gordon

    (Department of Behavioral and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

  • Dina L. G. Borzekowski

    (Department of Behavioral and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

Abstract

Children are particularly impressionable and at risk during a global public health crisis, making it important to examine their unique perspectives. To hear and understand sub-Saharan African children’s experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted an exploratory qualitative analysis based on interviews with 51 children, ages 9 to 13, from Nigeria, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone. Applying the organization of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, we reveal how COVID-19 affected children’s daily lives and domestic challenges, schooling and neighborhood issues, media use (and its relationship to knowledge and fear of the disease), perceptions of the country and government response, and thoughts of religion and hope. Children’s responses differed greatly, but patterns emerged across sex, age, household size, religion, and country. This study offers guidance and recommendations for meeting the needs of children, especially in times of crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Samantha Watters Kallander & Rebecca Gordon & Dina L. G. Borzekowski, 2021. "“People Will Continue to Suffer If the Virus Is Around”: A Qualitative Analysis of Sub-Saharan African Children’s Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-23, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5618-:d:561455
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5618/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5618/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Victor Ombati & Ombati Mokua, 2012. "Gender Inequality in Education in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education, Institute of Economic Sciences, issue 3-4, pages 114-136.
    2. Iroghama Paul Iroghama, 2012. "Trust in Government: A Note from Nigeria," Knowledge Horizons - Economics, Faculty of Finance, Banking and Accountancy Bucharest,"Dimitrie Cantemir" Christian University Bucharest, vol. 4(1-2), pages 38-45, March-Jun.
    3. Bentzen, Jeanet Sinding, 2021. "In crisis, we pray: Religiosity and the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 541-583.
    4. World Bank, 2020. "Response to COVID-19," World Bank Publications - Reports 33738, The World Bank Group.
    5. María Martínez-Andrés & Raquel Bartolomé-Gutiérrez & Beatriz Rodríguez-Martín & María Jesús Pardo-Guijarro & Miriam Garrido-Miguel & Vicente Martínez-Vizcaíno, 2020. "Barriers and Facilitators to Leisure Physical Activity in Children: A Qualitative Approach Using the Socio-Ecological Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-15, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Klenert & Franziska Funke & Linus Mattauch & Brian O’Callaghan, 2020. "Five Lessons from COVID-19 for Advancing Climate Change Mitigation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 751-778, August.
    2. Adian,Ikmal & Doumbia,Djeneba & Gregory,Neil & Ragoussis,Alexandros & Reddy,Aarti & Timmis,Jonathan David, 2020. "Small and Medium Enterprises in the Pandemic : Impact, Responses and the Role of Development Finance," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9414, The World Bank.
    3. Adeniyi, D.S., 2022. "Ethical Considerations in the Nigerian Public Service and Governance," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(7), pages 637-641, July.
    4. Charles Gottlieb & Jan GrobovsÌŒek & Markus Poschke & Fernando Saltiel, 2020. "Working from home: Implications for developing countries," Vox eBook Chapters, in: Simeon Djankov & Ugo Panizza (ed.), COVID-19 in Developing Economies, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 242-256, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    5. Abay,Kibrom A. & Hirfrfot,Kibrom Tafere & Woldemichael,Andinet, 2020. "Winners and Losers from COVID-19 : Global Evidence from Google Search," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9268, The World Bank.
    6. Eva Raiber & Paul Seabright, 2020. "U.S. Churches' Response to Covid-19: Results from Facebook," Post-Print halshs-03140130, HAL.
    7. Hasan, Iftekhar & Noth, Felix & Tonzer, Lena, 2023. "Cultural norms and corporate fraud: Evidence from the Volkswagen scandal," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    8. Paul Corral & Roberta Gatti, 2020. "Accumulation interrupted: COVID-19 and human capital among the young," Vox eBook Chapters, in: Simeon Djankov & Ugo Panizza (ed.), COVID-19 in Developing Economies, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 286-302, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    9. Jeanet Sinding Bentzen & Nina Boberg-Fazlić & Paul Sharp & Christian Volmar Skovsgaard & Christian Vedel, 2024. "Assimilate for God: The Impact of Religious Divisions on Danish American Communities," Working Papers 0253, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    10. Swati Dhingra, 2020. "Policy for limiting the poverty impact of COVID-19 in Africa," Vox eBook Chapters, in: Simeon Djankov & Ugo Panizza (ed.), COVID-19 in Developing Economies, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 220-228, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    11. Muhammad Qahraman Kakar, 2021. "Ethnic Disparities, Women Education and Empowerment in South Asia," Erudite Ph.D Dissertations, Erudite, number ph21-01 edited by Manon Domingues Dos Santos.
    12. Utteeyo Dasgupta & Chandan Kumar Jha & Sudipta Sarangi, 2021. "Persistent Patterns Of Behavior: Two Infectious Disease Outbreaks 350 Years Apart," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(2), pages 848-857, April.
    13. Qerimi, Qerim & Sergi, Bruno S., 2021. "Let's lessen conditionality in times of force majeure events. The archaic righteousness of the policy of conditionality of international Institutions amid COVID-19," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    14. Hasan, Iftekhar & Manfredonia, Stefano & Noth, Felix, 2020. "Cultural resilience and economic recovery: Evidence from Hurricane Katrina," IWH Discussion Papers 16/2020, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    15. Joseph I. Uduji & Elda N. Okolo-Obasi & Simplice A. Asongu, 2019. "The Impact of CSR Interventions on Female Education Development in the Rural Niger Delta Region of Nigeria," Working Papers 19/070, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    16. repec:rac:ecchap:2017-12 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Sriya Iyer, 2022. "Religion and Discrimination: A Review Essay of Persecution and Toleration: The Long Road to Religious Freedom," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 256-278, March.
    18. Christopher Kilby & Carolyn McWhirter, 2022. "The World Bank COVID-19 response: Politics as usual?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 627-656, July.
    19. Shinozaki, Shigehiro & Rao, Lakshman N., 2021. "COVID-19 Impact on Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises under the Lockdown: Evidence from a Rapid Survey in the Philippines," ADBI Working Papers 1216, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    20. Vincenzo Alfano & Salvatore Ercolano & Gaetano Vecchione, 2020. "Religious Attendance and Covid-19. Evidences from Italian Regions," CESifo Working Paper Series 8596, CESifo.
    21. Clemens, Jeffrey & Hoxie, Philip & Kearns, John & Veuger, Stan, 2023. "How did federal aid to states and localities affect testing and vaccine delivery?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5618-:d:561455. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.