"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.

Children are particularly impressionable and at risk during a global public health crisis, making it essential 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 dif-fered 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.

The relation between knowledge and concern: A global study of children and COVID-19.

COVID-19 messages vary around the world, and populations receive these messages in different ways. Children are a vulnerable audience, especially in terms of risk communication. As messages are being developed, communicated, and disseminated about this pandemic, it is important to know the relation between COVID-19 knowledge and concern among preadolescents. In Spring 2020, children (N= 4,249) from 8 global regions completed an online survey (Mage= 11.0, 54% female, 46% male). We assessed children's COVID-19 knowledge by asking about prevention and symptoms, as well as myths about the virus. We also assessed children's concerns by asking about worries about self and others getting sick, missing school, and interruption of activities. Our analyses revealed different relations between knowledge and concern by region. Among children from Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian region, Asia, and North America, there was a positive relation between knowledge and concern. For those from Latin America, Oceania, Europe, and Southeast Asia, the relation was flat or negative. When producing messages for children during a public health crisis, health communicators must know that more knowledge is not always associated with less concern.