Strategies to avoid the loss of developmental potential in more than 200 million children in the developing world

Abstract

This paper is the third in the Child Development Series. The first paper showed that more than 200 million children under 5 years of age in developing countries do not reach their developmental potential. The second paper identifi ed four well-documented risks: stunting, iodine defi ciency, iron deficiency anaemia, and inadequate cognitive stimulation, plus four potential risks based on epidemiological evidence: maternal depression, violence exposure, environmental contamination, and malaria. This paper assesses strategies to promote child development and to prevent or ameliorate the loss of developmental potential. The most effective early child development programmes provide direct learning experiences to children and families, are targeted toward younger and disadvantaged children, are of longer duration, high quality, and high intensity, and are integrated with family support, health, nutrition, or educational systems and services. Despite convincing evidence, programme coverage is low. To achieve the Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty and ensuring primary school completion for both girls and boys, governments and civil society should consider expanding high quality, cost-effective early child development programmes.

Role of cash in conditional cash transfer programmes for child health, growth, and development: an analysis of Mexico's Oportunidades

“…The findings reported here are also small when compared with effect sizes reported from interventions specifically targeting child development, such as home visits to support and educate mothers. 6 Two of the domains of mental development in which we have shown highly significant results -short term, or working, memory (a measure of executive function) and language -have been identified through neurologic studies to be the most sensitive to differences in SES. 51,52 Future research should further explore the relationship between SES change in and child development in this context.…”

“…5 The question of how best to intervene to improve child health and well-being is of paramount importance. 6 Many governments in developing countries, particularly in Latin America, have turned to conditional cash transfer programs (CCT) to address the larger issue of poverty alleviation. 7 In traditional cash transfer or welfare programs, families receive cash benefits because the household falls below a certain income cut-off or lives within a geographically targeted region, and these are the only criteria determining eligibility for participation.…”

The social determinants of psychosis in migrant and ethnic minority populations: a public health tragedy

“…These processes begin at an early stage. It is well established that early disadvantage sets a developmental trajectory characterized by increased likelihood of exposure to subsequent adversities, each of which is likely to have a compounding effect (Engle et al 2007). To paraphrase Jones et al (1994), early disadvantage sets in train a cascade of problematic social development, one consequence of which may be an increased risk of psychosis.…”

Policy-to-practice contexts for early childhood mathematics in England

“…Several longitudinal studies have been cited as providing evidence for links between early education and later achievement outcomes, for instance, Early Provision of Preschool Education (EPPE) Sylva et al (2004) in the UK, the Abercedarian early childhood education project (Campbell and Pungello, 1999) and the High/Scope Perry Preschool Study (Schweinhart, 2004) in the United States of America (USA). A series of papers in The Lancet (Engle et al, 2007;Grantham-McGregor et al, 2007;Walker et al, 2007) considered risk factors in early child development for adverse outcomes in developing countries and argued for strategies to avoid loss of developmental potential.…”

“…Several longitudinal studies have been cited as providing evidence for links between early education and later achievement outcomes, for instance, Early Provision of Preschool Education (EPPE) Sylva et al (2004) in the UK, the Abercedarian early childhood education project (Campbell and Pungello, 1999) and the High/Scope Perry Preschool Study (Schweinhart, 2004) in the United States of America (USA). A series of papers in The Lancet (Engle et al, 2007; Grantham-McGregor et al, 2007;Walker et al, 2007) considered risk factors in early child development for adverse outcomes in developing countries and argued for strategies to avoid loss of developmental potential.There has been a growing international emphasis on quality outcomes in early childhood education and development provided a strategy to promote economic DfEE, 1999a) there had been considerable progress in the attainment of young learners. The percentage later reaching national average and above by the end of primary schooling at age eleven years rose from 59% to over 77%.…”