182 Million Children in Low- and Middle-Income Countries No Access to Care: Report

Children not included in child care and education programs are missing out on critically important nurturing care

New Delhi:

In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), three-quarters of three- or four-year-olds (approximately 182 million children) lack access to adequate care and are therefore at risk of healthy development. Lancet journal.

The series is based on the first 1000 days of life (referring to the period from the beginning of pregnancy to the age of two) and highlights how the ‘next 1000 days’ (from the age of two to the age of five) are an important window of development. There is an opportunity to provide nurturing care to children, the researchers said.

During this phase, called the “next 1,000 days”, children generally do not have direct regular contact with health or education services, with less than one in three three- or four-year-old children in low- and middle-income countries participating in early childhood care and education programmes, the researchers said.

The authors called for greater investment in this stage of child development, particularly focusing on improving access to high-quality childhood care and education programmes; These programs need to include adequately paid and trained teachers and reasonable teacher-student ratios.

These programs should also include child-centered play, evidence-based curriculum, and warm, stimulating, and responsive classroom interactions, they said.

The cost of providing one year of early childhood care and education to all children would average less than 0.15 percent of the current gross domestic product of low- and middle-income countries, according to a new analysis in the Lancet series.

The authors of the series said that the potential benefits of these programs outweigh the cost of implementing them by 8-19 times.

“This Lancet series brought together global researchers who share a passion for early childhood development and want to profile the ‘next 1000 days’ as a key developmental milestone, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).” Catherine Draper, from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and co-chair of the Series, said:

“Children in LMICs not only need to be more strongly involved in research over the next 1,000 days, but they also need to receive the care they need to thrive. This includes supporting caregivers of young children and ensuring they have access to high-quality early care and educational programmes,” Draper said .

Because nearly 80 percent of interventions that promote healthy development occur in such settings, children who are not included in childhood care and education programs miss out on important nurturing care opportunities, the authors said.

They added that the programs offer a platform that combines food assistance, nutritional supplements and caregiver support, as well as annual screening and growth monitoring.

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