Child Suicide Becoming an ‘International Epidemic’

The damage we’re inflicting on children is too devastating to be waved away in the name of public health

A year in lockdown feels much longer to a child—and can be particularly devastating, researchers warn. esthermm/Shutterstock

Billions of people across the globe continue to live under COVID-19 lockdowns or heavily restricted life. And for almost all of us, life amid the pandemic in 2020 was an isolating and difficult year.

Now, doctors are warning that children, in particular, are experiencing grave mental health consequences as a result of the lockdowns—leading to an “international epidemic” of child suicide.