A global call to action for early childhood

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24 Our global responsibility: The developmental potential of over 200 million young children the prevalence of stunting among children in poverty and calculated the number of stunted children plus the number of non-stunted children living in poverty. The analysis indicated that there are 559 million children under 5 in developing countries, including 156 million who are stunted and 63 million who are not stunted but are living in poverty, for a total of over 219 million children under 5 years of age who are not fulfilling their developmental potential. Most of these children live in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Regression analyses reveal that both poverty and stunting predict the proportion of children who do not reach the final grade in primary school. Much of the research and intervention has been done in industrialised countries, however, it is worth noting that only 11% of the world’s young children live in those countries, and only 3% live in the USA. Paper 2. Child Development: Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes in Developing Countries (Walker et al., 2007) The second paper in The Lancet Series identifies biological and psychosocial risks for children’s development that have been well documented, can be modified, and are of high prevalence in the developing world. These risk factors, outlined in figure 1, affect children’s school readiness on school entry, which is predictive of later school progress. School readiness is affected by cognitive ability, social-emotional competence, and sensorimotor development. It is important to recognise that school readiness is not just a function of mastering academic skills like letter recognition, but also involves many social skills, such as understanding how to work in a group. Poverty, and the sociocultural conditions that accompany it, often occurs along with the biological and psychosocial risks that affect development through changes in brain structure and function. Children growing up in poverty are frequently exposed to multiple and cumulative risks. Research clearly indicates that the greater the number of risks, the more a child’s development is compromised. For example, in Guatemala there was a linear decrease in adolescents’ school achievement and cognition when a greater number of risk factors were experienced by children in the first three years of their lives. Paper 2 identifies four key risk factors that are causally and consistently linked to development, affect large numbers of infants and young children from developing countries, and can be modified. The four risk factors that fit these criteria are: • malnutrition that is chronic and severe enough to cause stunting • inadequate cognitive stimulation or learning opportunities figure 2 DQ/IQ scores of stunted and non-stunted Jamaican children from age 9-24 months through 17-18 years The data show long-term deficits associated with stunting and the sustained benefits to stunted children who received a home-visiting programme providing early childhood stimulation. Reproduced from Walker et al., 2007. COORDINATORS’ NOTEBOOK: ISSUE 29
Our global responsibility: The developmental potential of over 200 million young children 25 TABLE 1 Risk factors for poor development Risk Prevalence Effects on children Strength of Evidence Stunting 25-30% 6-13 DQ points, (0.4-0.8 SD), social and Strong emotional effects Iodine deficiency 35% 9-13 IQ points (1 SD) Strong Iron deficiency anaemia 20-30% 1.73 IQ/10 g/L Hb; some supplementation trials show benefits to motor, social-emotional and cognitive development of 0.3-0.4 SD Strong Lack of child stimulation and learning opportunities Maternal depression Exposure to violence Intrauterine growth retardation 60-90% of parents do not stimulate Malaria 40% of pop. in 90 countries, 300-600 million Provision of stimulation/learning opportunities has benefits of 0.5-1.0 SD in IQ 17%, rates may be higher Major armed conflict in 27-38% of countries from 1990-2003, affects 20 million children 11% 0.25 to 0.5 SD compared to non-low birth weight Strong 0.5 to 1.0 SD in cognitive development scores Correlations clear; need for treatment approaches Behaviour problems, post-traumatic stress Urgent need for research, disorder particularly on interventions Significant cognitive impairments associated with severe malaria or cerebral malaria, or number of episodes of malaria Associated with developmental deficits to age 3y; need for longitudinal studies Negative associations clear; needs further study Lead levels 40% 2-5 IQ points Correlational studies in developed and developing countries Lack of breastfeeding 40-50% Small effects on cognition (2-5 IQ pts), may affect bonding Consistent but small to moderate effects; hard to design good studies Parental loss Over 43 million orphans in Sub- Saharan Africa, 16% below age 6 (7 million) in 2003 Unknown Descriptive studies show higher rates of mortality, some behaviour problems, sense of vulnerability, depression, improves over time Need for interventions and intervention research Lack of maternal responsivity Associated with less secure attachment, lower cognitive ability and more behaviour problems Need for more intervention studies Zinc deficiency 33% Cognitive development and activity Mixed results Intestinal 33% Cognitive development Inconsistent results helminths HIV infection 2% Can be severe; developmental delays, language Evidence for risk is strong delays Diarrhoea Common Some associations with cognitive development Suggestive; needs further study found Arsenic High in areas such Lowered IQ Correlational data; only as Bangladesh investigated in older children Manganese, Depends on area Lowered IQ Some data but need for more pesticides COORDINATORS’ NOTEBOOK: ISSUE 29
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A global call to action for early childhood

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