Kathmandu, July 19 -- On Friday, it will be four months since Nepal closed the country down to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus strain that causes COVID-19. Of the 40 who have died of the infection in Nepal, two are children below 5.

But many more children have died during the four months of lockdown compared to the same period last year because of lack of access to health care because of restriction on mobility, interrupted vaccination campaigns and the lack of medicines.

However, the coronavirus grabs all the headlines. Mortality due to non-COVID-19 causes does not make the news - even though it is clear that a lockdown enforced to control one disease has caused far more deaths from other prevalent diseases, and threatens t...