Furthermore, a total of over 40 million people were actively engaged via innovative online platforms but also community-based approaches around COVID-19. With significant disruption of access to health services in nine countries of the region in 2020, nearly 15 million children missed their regular immunizations schedule. However, concerted efforts of Governments and UNICEF allowed to return to pre-COVID-19 rates with nearly 12 million Reporting Period: 1 January – 31 December 2020 children vaccinated by the end of 2020 and about three million children be prioritized for the first months of 2021. By mid-March 2020, almost all schools in the region were closed, interrupting education for approximately 110 million children, putting their learning and well-being at risk. An estimated 1.3 million children are still in jeopardy of not returning to education altogether.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 28, 2021 18:00 UTC