Governments must pour more money and resources into preserving the mental well-being of children and adolescents, the UN’s child protection agency has urged in a report that sounded alarms about blows to mental health from the Covid-19 pandemic that hit poor and vulnerable children particularly hard.

The United Nations Children’s Fund said its “State of the World’s Children” study is its most comprehensive look so far this century at the mental health of children and adolescents globally.

The coronavirus crisis, forcing school closures that upended the lives of children and adolescents, has thrust the issue of their mental well-being to the fore.

“With nationwide lockdowns and pandemic-related movement restrictions, children have spent indelible years of their lives away from family, friends, classrooms, play — key elements of childhood itself,” said Unicef’s executive director, Henrietta Fore.

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