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Early Childhood Development and Economic Stability

early_childhood_development
Early childhood development (ECD), or the time from a child’s birth to turning 8 years old, is considered the most critical window of childhood development.

During this eight-year window, children undergo intensive physical and social growth, shaping their bodies and perceptions of society.

But many children in developing nations lack the nutrition, healthcare and social engagement necessary during ECD to have a strong foundation for future growth and development.

ECD initiatives, ranging from parental training to preschool, have been shown to dramatically improve children’s earning potential and help them to escape the poverty cycle.

In the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations specifically addressed the value of ECD in Goal 4, stating that by 2030 all children will “have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.”

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, echoed the importance of providing aid to ECD for the termination of global poverty, saying, “Children have been educated who otherwise would have missed out.”

Through aid efforts, programs are sprouting throughout some of the world’s poorest regions, showing promising results.

The World Bank reports that children in developing nations who have participated in ECD programs have higher levels of cognitive and academic performance than their peers.

Children who have benefitted from ECD initiatives are also more prepared to enter primary school and learn more efficiently while in class. This early success in schools has led to lower levels of dropouts and grade repetitions.

As educational levels rise, so does earning potential. Especially for girls. For every year of primary education a girl receives, her earning potential rises 10 percent to 20 percent, and for every additional year of secondary education, her earning potential rises another 15 percent to 25 percent, empowering her in the workforce.

As the workforces in developing nations expand with more educated and skilled laborers, the population at large benefits from an expanded consumer base.

With increased earning and buying power comes a more complex and stable economy that is less susceptible to shock and a higher gross domestic income.

According to UNICEF, this increase in school attendance shrinks the gap between the wealthiest and poorest families, hoisting children and their families out of the poverty cycle.

– Claire Colby

Sources: The Guardian 1, The Guardian 2 UNICEF, UN, USAID, World Bank
Photo: Sharp School

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The US Struggles to Meet SDGs

SDGs
According to a study conducted by Bertelsmann Stiftung, a German foundation that researches and advocates social responsibility, the United States is ranked among the countries least likely to complete the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs aimed at ending poverty and combating climate change by 2030.

The Sustainable Development Goals are a set of 17 goals that were conceived at the 2012 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the goals will replace the Millennium Development Goals in January 2016 and are based on six elements: dignity, people, prosperity, our planet, justice and partnership.

“The MDGs were about resource transfer from rich countries. The SDGs are universal—they’re supposed to apply to all countries and try to overcome the ‘West lecturing the rest’ dynamic,” said Sarah Hearn, associate director and senior fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation.

While the U.S. struggles to meet SDGs, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland have the best chances of completing the goals. The countries with the lowest rankings are the U.S., Greece, Chile, Hungary, Turkey and Mexico.

Even though the U.S. has a high GDP, clean air and abundant housing, the country struggles with income inequality, over-consumption and environmental protection.

“We in the rich nations, with our growing social inequality and wasteful use of resources, can no longer present ourselves as the world’s teachers,” said Aart de Geus, Bertelsmann Stiftung chairman. “Rather, the analysis shows us where we, too, have to do our homework.”

During his visit to the U.S., Pope Francis addressed Congress and the U.N. Council, discussing the urgency of eradicating world poverty and climate change and how a solution cannot wait for future generations.

President Barack Obama, whose plans for a climate change bill were denied by Congress early in his presidency, agrees with the pope and his efforts to make the U.S. more involved.

“Holy Father, you remind us that we have a sacred obligation to protect our planet — God’s magnificent gift to us. We support your call to all world leaders to support the communities most vulnerable to a changing climate and to come together to preserve our precious world for future generations,” said President Obama.

– Alexandra Korman

Sources: ABC News, Council on Foreign Relations, Huffington Post, The Daily Star
Photo: Turner

PATH’s 30 Key Global Health Innovations

The 30 Innovations PATH Chose to Save Lives
PATH, the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, headquartered in Seattle, WA, is an international nonprofit organization and leader of global health innovation. For 40 years, PATH has improved health and saved lives.

PATH recently released the Innovation Count Down 2030 report, which identifies 30 key global health innovations. With support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, PATH assembled a group of experts and innovators from around the world “to identify, evaluate, and showcase health technologies and interventions with great promise to accelerate progress toward solving the world’s most urgent health issues,” according to the report.

The report features innovations that could hasten the pace of progress towards the health targets in the proposed United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Those targets include reducing the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births and ending preventable deaths of newborns and children under five years old; ending the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other diseases; reducing by one-third premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases; and ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services.

The global health innovations listed below, are presented in four categories that align with the SDGs proposed health targets. To read the summary of each goal, visit path.org and click the IC2030 report.

Innovations for maternal, newborn and child health:

  1. New formulations of oxytocin
  2. Uterine balloon tamponade
  3. Handheld device to measure blood pressure
  4. Simple, safe device for assisted delivery
  5. Chlorhexidine for umbilical cord care
  6. Kangaroo mother care
  7. New neonatal resuscitators
  8. New treatment for severe diarrhea
  9. Rice fortification
  10. New tools for small scale water treatment
  11. Portable pulse oximeters to measure oxygen
  12. Better respiratory rate monitors

Innovations for combating infectious diseases:

  1. Protective malaria vaccine candidates
  2. Malaria transmission-blocking vaccine
  3. Potent, single-dose antimalarial drug
  4. Expanded use of rapid malaria tests
  5. Broadly neutralizing antibodies in HIV vaccines
  6. Long-acting injectable antiretrovirals
  7. Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis
  8. Novel multidrug treatment regimen for TB
  9. New vaccines to prevent TB
  10. Nucleic acid amplification tests

Innovations for reproductive health:

  1. Expanded access to implants and intrauterine devices
  2. Injectable contraceptives

Innovations addressing non-communicable diseases:

  1. One-year contraceptive vaginal ring
  2. Polypill
  3. Broader use of HPV vaccine
  4. Task-shifting for diabetes care
  5. mHealth innovations
  6. Portable, affordable screening for eye problems

“On the eve of launching the SDGs, the global community now knows what we can accomplish by coming together around a common set of goals and throwing our collective weight behind health solutions with the most potential for impact,” the report states. “As world leaders consider how to finance and scale up those solutions, we know that coordinated investment and financing will be essential in our efforts to reach the 2030 health targets—and to ensure we can financially sustain those gains into the future.”

– Kelsey Parrotte

Sources: IC2030 Report, PATH
Photo: Flickr