Analytic and strategic review paper: international perspectives on early child development

This paper, published by the World Health Organization Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, focuses on early child development and education (ECD) as a determinant of health. It describes three sets of factors that influence ECD. The first set, factors within the family, includes stimulation, support, and nurture. These can be enhanced through interventions involving improved parenting skills, nutritional supplementation, and quality child care arrangements. Second, neighbourhoods and communities influence ECD, and community development approaches have been shown to be feasible and effective in improving child development in developing countries. The third set consists of socio-political factors such as national wealth, income distribution, employment, migration, and attitudes to mothers and children.

The paper identifies general principles that can guide both wealthy and developing countries in improving children’s developmental outcomes. It suggests that the “gold standard” for service delivery in ECD is the local neighbourhood “hub,” through which families can access quality child care, infant and family support programmes, health care services, family literacy programmes, and a borrowing library of resources for young children. It argues that this can enable children in developing countries to reach school age at the same level of development as those in wealthy countries, and improve their chances of succeeding at school.