Mental development failings could hit education progress of 80 million young children
Early childhood development
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of young children who are not meeting听basic developmental benchmarks
听One-third of young children living in developing nations are failing to meet basic mental development milestones, which could adversely affect their health, success in adulthood, and education levels, researchers have said.
Nearly 81 million children between three and four were not听meeting basic developmental benchmarks 国产视频 with the highest numbers听of affected children coming from sub-Saharan Africa, including听Chad, Sierra Leone and Central African Republic, they said in a听report.
While poverty and malnutrition are contributing factors,听more research needs to be done to understand the root causes of听the problem, according to Dana McCoy, lead author of the study听which uses data from the United Nations children国产视频檚 agency UNICEF and the听United States Agency for International Development. (USAID).
国产视频淏y virtue of the fact that these children are not meeting听these milestones doesn国产视频檛 mean they can国产视频檛 go on to have a very听healthy, happy and productive life,国产视频 said McCoy, who conducted听the study with the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and听funding body Grand Challenges Canada.
国产视频淭here are a number of programmes and interventions that can听be implemented at any age group to really support children国产视频檚听development, help them to thrive in their settings.国产视频
Children were assessed on their ability to follow simple听directions, work independently, maintain attention, get along听with others, and inhibit aggressive behaviours such as hitting听and kicking. basic developmental benchmarks
McCoy said mental development was essential in predicting a听child国产视频檚 transition into adulthood, setting the foundation for听school readiness, mental and physical wellbeing, as well as听economic earnings later in life.
Since fewer children are dying from malnutrition and听preventable diseases, the international community should now听start to focus on the potential of children, and not just their听survival, McCoy added.
国产视频淲ith a lot of the efforts that have been made听internationally in the public health and medical realm, we国产视频檝e听come to a lot of success in helping children to survive,国产视频 McCoy,听an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of听Education, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
国产视频淏ut now we国产视频檙e moving into an era where we can not only help听children to survive but really focus on helping them to听thrive.国产视频
Nearly half of all under-five deaths are associated with听malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization 国产视频 but听the rate of improvement is accelerating, with child mortality听falling quicker since the millennium than it did in the 1990s.
McCoy noted that despite the challenges, the majority of听young children living in poor nations are meeting developmental听benchmarks.
国产视频淭here are a number of children who are quite resilient and听they are able to thrive and so we can and should look to those听children as examples of how to really think about development国产视频
The Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, covers humanitarian news, women国产视频檚 rights, corruption and climate change.
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