While the whole world has suffered profound impacts from COVID-19, children and young people have suffered in particular ways. They possess fewer emotional tools for coping with such a massive upheaval. They have more difficulty in the rules of social distancing and coping with lockdowns. Recent studies show the consequences of absence from school, increases of domestic and sexual violence, separation from friends and sources of support as the pandemic also deepens social inequalities.

Concerned with these events, CIESPI presents this policy analysis which examines the actual consequences of the events surrounding COVID 19 which demand specific caring strategies for the young population bearing in mind the diverse social, economic and cultural contexts that Brazilian children inhabit.

The worldwide alarm at the spread of the Zika virus is mirrored in Brazil which is the world epicenter of the current outbreak of the virus. Correlational and virologic evidence is accumulating rapidly of the connection between the Zika virus and the increase in the incidence of microcephaly in newborn babies in Brazil. March 2016.

RIZZINI, Irene, LEITE, Aline Deus da Silva, MENEZES, Cristiane Diniz de. Cuidado Familiar e saúde mental: a atenção das famílias a seus filhos na infância e na adolescência. Rio de Janeiro, Editora PUC Rio/Editora Reflexão: 2013.
There are many remaining challenges to be met for children and adolescents with mental disabilities and for the families that look after them. While there are legal guarantees for providing help there is little implementation of those guarantees. The lack of public knowledge about the reality of the children's lives means that they are invisible and on the margins of society. This study begins to describe the suffering many families experience on a daily basis in their search for adequate care and treatment for their young people.

NAYAR, Usha (editor - Tatta Institute, Mumbay, India). Child and adolescent mental health. London: Sage Publications, 2012.
Title: RIZZINI, Irene e ALMEIDA, Neli C. A. From institutionalization to family settings: Rethinking practices for children and youth with mental disabilities in Brazil (pp. 187-203).
This book creates an opportunity for experts to use interdisciplinary approaches and perspectives, and provides evidence-based knowledge to deal with the stresses of children and adolescents living in poverty, difficult socioeconomic conditions, and varied cultures. It also indicates that shared understandings can promote useful and well-reasoned programs in similar contexts in different countries wherever children and adolescents are growing up in complex and risky environments.
The contributors who represent several disciplines apply their knowledge to the development of children in contemporary society. They highlight the conversations that schools, families, communities, individuals, and nation-states need to have and, most importantly, the responsibility for everyone to develop an understanding of the mental-health needs of the new generation. (descriptive text: SAGE Publications)