Early Childhood Development

Lancet Global health, 2018

Background Knowledge about typical development is of fundamental importance for understanding and promoting child health and development. We aimed to ascertain when healthy children in four culturally and linguistically different countries attain developmental milestones and to identify similarities and differences across sexes and countries.

Journal of Maternal and Child Health, 2019

Background: The first five years of a child's life are critical for development. The experiences children have in these years help shape the adults they will become. Parent relationship with their children plays a big part in the way children learn and develop. This study aimed to examine factors associated with development in children under five years of age. Subjects and Method: This was a cross sectional study conducted at 20 posyandus (integrated health posts), Ngemplak, Boyolali, Central Java, from May 5 to June 10, 2018. A total sample of 203 children under five years of age was selected by simple random sampling. The dependent variable was child development. The independent variables were maternal age at pregnancy, prolonged labor, birthweight, birth asphyxia, and family income. Data on child development were measured by pre-screening questionnaire. The other variables were measured by questionnaire. The data were analyzed by a multilevel logistic regressionrun on Stata 13. Results: Child development was positively affected by maternal age at pregnancy (b= 0.33; 95% CI= 0.03 to 0.64; p= 0.032) and absence of birth asphyxia (b= 0.60; 95% CI= 0.16 to 1.05; p= 0.007), birthweight (b= 0.01; 95% CI=-0.01 to 0.01; p= 0.111), and family income (b= 0.27; 95% CI=-0.04 to 0.58; p= 0.087). Children development was negatively affected by prolonged labor (b=-0.30; 95% CI=-0.57 to-0.03; p= 0.029). Posyandu had a strong contextual effect on child development with ICC= 16.16%. Conclusion: Child development is positively affected by maternal age at pregnancy and absence of birth asphyxia, birthweight, and family income. Children development is negatively affected by prolonged labor. Posyandu has a strong contextual effect on child development.

BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2015

Early childhood years are critical for human development. It is the time when the brain develops most rapidly and the neural connections are formed that are the foundation of a child's physical and mental health and lifelong health and well-being. Adverse experiences in early childhood increase the risk for poor social and health outcomes: low educational attainment, economic dependency, increased violence, crime, substance misuse, and poor mental health, and a greater risk of adult-onset non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Millions of children globally are living in deprived and vulnerable circumstances and it is estimated that over 200 million children under 5 years of age are unable to attain their full developmental potential. While the global community has made great strides in helping children to survive, too many are unable to thrive. Effective interventions to protect and promote early child development are available and feasible for implementation at scale, in the health, nutrition, education and social protection sectors. They include support for optimal infant and young child feeding; prevention and management of childhood illness; parents to develop skills of sensitivity and responsiveness, play and communication; social protection measures such as conditional cash transfers; attention to maternal physical and mental health and timely intervention; maternal education, quality child care and preschool education. Sustainable development requires a healthy population. Countries will only be able to reap the benefits of the demographic dividend if they invest in people early. Early childhood, including the first three of years of a child's life, is a window of opportunity that cannot be missed.

2000

Before children reach school age they must negotiate threats from a number of diseases. More than 50% of child deaths are caused by pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles, malnutrition and HIV. Health and nutrition can affect education in many ways. In resource-poor countries, physical and mental disability can be a major barrier to schooling. This can result from iodine or folate

PLOS ONE

Background Globally more than 150 million children under age 5 years were stunted in 2018, primarily in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), and the impact of early-onset, persistent stunting has not been well explored. To explore the association between early-onset persistent stunting in children and cognitive development at 5 years of age, and to identify the factors associated with early-onset stunting. Methods and findings Children from the MAL-ED cohort study were followed from birth to 5 years of age in six LMICs. The Wechsler Preschool Primary Scales of Intelligence (WPPSI) was used to assess cognitive abilities (fluid reasoning) at 5 years and was adapted for each culture. Stunting was categorized as early-onset persistent (first stunted at 1-6 months and persisting at 60 months), early-onset recovered (first stunted at 1-6 months and not stunted at 60 months), late-onset persistent (first stunted at 7-24 months and persisting at 60 months), late-onset recovered (first stunted at 7-24 months and not stunted at 60 months), and never (never stunted). Mixed effects linear models were used to estimate the relationship between stunting status and cognitive development. Children with early-onset persistent stunting had significantly lower cognitive scores (-2.10 (95% CI:-3.85,-0.35)) compared with those who were never stunted. Transferrin receptor (TfR) was also negatively associated with cognitive development (-0.31 (95% CI:-0.49,-0.13)), while the HOME inventory, an index of quality of the home environment (0.46 (95% CI: 0.21, 0.72)) and socioeconomic status (1.50 (95% CI: 1.03, 1.98)) were positively associated with cognitive development.

1998

The following trends have been in motion in the field of early childhood development (ECD) for some time: (1) the concept of ECD is increasingly taking on additional connotations; (2) in Europe children are becoming a minority group and other age groups, such as the elderly, see them as competitors for the same limited resources; (3) the downward extension of primary school education to include younger age groups will continue; (4) the number of children with access to ECD will grow and a large section of society will be catered for, but at the same time, some groups of socially excluded young families will become virtually unreachable; and (5) international cooperation and exchange of "good practice" will expand and intensify. Some future scenarios can be "willed" and with sufficient "will power" they could actually happen. Most large-scale ECD intervention programs skirt emotive but fundamental issues such as child abuse and neglect, substance abuse, domestic violence, and discrimination. The impact on the well-being of children could be improved if they were to be incorporated. The majority of large-scale intervention programs are conservative in the sense that they seek to provide responses to yesterday's problems. To increase their effectiveness, these programs should anticipate the "newly emerging needs" of children. (MKA)

The Scientific World JOURNAL, 2003

The period of life called childhood is of worldwide interest, and is nicely illustrated by numerous stories about children’s life around the globe in a recent series of books published by John Wiley & Sons as part of the Open University course on “Childhood”[1,2]. Adolescence and later adulthood are also important parts of the human development that shape us and our future generations. In addition to genetics, the conditions and environment during our first few years of life will have a binding impact on the development taking place years ahead concerning our achievements in life, our accomplishments, and our health.

Paediatrics and Child Health, 2007

Before children reach school age they must negotiate threats from a number of diseases. More than 50% of child deaths are caused by pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles, malnutrition and HIV. Health and nutrition can affect education in many ways. In resource-poor countries, physical and mental disability can be a major barrier to schooling. This can result from iodine or folate deficiency or rubella infectious in utero or from cerebral malaria, polio or meningitis infections postnatally. Malaria infection, undernutrition and orphanhood can influence the likelihood and timing of enrolment. School readiness depends on cognitive, motor and socio-emotional development which can be affected by, among other things, undernutrition, iron deficiency anemia and malaria. There is clear evidence of the benefits of preschool health and nutrition interventions to tackle these three conditions, with economic returns to $1 spent estimated at $3 for nutritional supplementation and $14 for iron supplementation. For malnourished children, psychosocial stimulation can be as effective as nutritional supplementation in compensating for delayed cognitive development. In general, interventions in this age group have substantial and consistent effects on development and education which are generally larger than for school-age children. Effects are seen in all dimensions of school readinesscognitive, motor and socioemotional development -but are perhaps greatest for motor development. The interventions are highly cost-effective compared with other educational interventions. They also have a greater impact on the most disadvantaged children and can help to promote equity in educational outcomes. Early childhood health and nutrition interventions have the potential to make a major contribution to achieving Education for All.

Early childhood development programmes vary in coordination and quality, with inadequate and inequitable access, especially for children younger than 3 years. New estimates, based on proxy measures of stunting and poverty, indicate that 250 million children (43%) younger than 5 years in low-income and middle-income countries are at risk of not reaching their developmental potential. There is therefore an urgent need to increase multisectoral coverage of quality programming that incorporates health, nutrition, security and safety, responsive caregiving, and early learning. Equitable early childhood policies and programmes are crucial for meeting Sustainable Development Goals, and for children to develop the intellectual skills, creativity, and wellbeing required to become healthy and productive adults. In this paper, the fi rst in a three part Series on early childhood development, we examine recent scientifi c progress and global commitments to early childhood development. Research, programmes, and policies have advanced substantially since 2000, with new neuroscientifi c evidence linking early adversity and nurturing care with brain development and function throughout the life course.