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 meetingbasic developmental benchmarks
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 notmeeting basic developmental benchmarks – with the highest numbersof affected children coming from sub-Saharan Africa, includingChad, Sierra Leone and Central African Republic, they said in areport.
While poverty and malnutrition are contributing factors,more research needs to be done to understand the root causes ofthe problem, according to Dana McCoy, lead author of the studywhich uses data from the United Nations children’s agency and the. (USAID).
“By virtue of the fact that these children are not meetingthese milestones doesn’t mean they can’t go on to have a veryhealthy, happy and productive life,” said McCoy, who conductedthe study with the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health andfunding body Grand Challenges Canada.
“There are a number of programmes and interventions that canbe implemented at any age group to really support children’sdevelopment, help them to thrive in their settings.”
Children were assessed on their ability to follow simpledirections, work independently, maintain attention, get alongwith others, and inhibit aggressive behaviours such as hittingand kicking. basic developmental benchmarks
McCoy said mental development was essential in predicting achild’s transition into adulthood, setting the foundation forschool readiness, mental and physical wellbeing, as well aseconomic earnings later in life.
Since fewer children are dying from malnutrition andpreventable diseases, the international community should nowstart to focus on the potential of children, and not just theirsurvival, McCoy added.
“With a lot of the efforts that have been madeinternationally in the public health and medical realm, we’vecome to a lot of success in helping children to survive,” McCoy,an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School ofEducation, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“But now we’re moving into an era where we can not only helpchildren to survive but really focus on helping them tothrive.”
Nearly half of all under-five deaths are associated withmalnutrition, according to the – butthe rate of improvement is accelerating, with child mortalityfalling quicker since the millennium than it did in the 1990s.
McCoy noted that despite the challenges, the majority ofyoung children living in poor nations are meeting developmentalbenchmarks.
“There are a number of children who are quite resilient andthey are able to thrive and so we can and should look to thosechildren as examples of how to really think about development”
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