Thirty-one academic experts in children's health argue that absent urgent action by international aid agencies, 200 million children around the world could sustain serious, lifelong cognitive impairment. The National Academy of Medicine Perspective article makes the case that global policy lags behind the science of brain health, and children must be given the opportunity not just to survive, but thrive.
Neil Boothby, the Allan Rosenfield Professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health who helped to provide the strategic framework for the document, and was one of the lead co-authors, writes that global health investments in child mortality have been enormously successful: In the past two decades alone, child deaths have fallen from 12 million to under 6 million. Yet despite global investments of $9.6 billion annually, a fifth of which comes from the United States, some 200 million children still fail to meet their development potential each year.
The article, titled "Beyond Survival: The Case for Investing in Young Children Globally," presents scientific evidence that extreme poverty, experiencing significant deprivation, violence, and neglect can short-circuit brain development with lifelong negative repercussions for children, limiting their ability to live healthy and productive lives, obtain gainful employment, and contribute to their communities and families. Among the science the authors cite are landmark studies on Adverse Childhood Experiences and "Neurons to Neighborhoods," and multidisciplinary research by Nobel Laureate James Heckman showing that early childhood development directly influences economic, health, and social outcomes for individuals and society.
"Ensuring survival is critically important, but we can't stop there," says Boothby, who leads the Mailman School's Program on Forced Migration and Health. "We are calling on the United States and other wealthy nations to invest in coordinated programs and policies to ensure that children, families, communities, and nations live up to their full potential."
These investments must concurrently address the health, nutrition, development, education and protection needs of children, beginning prenatally, and better yet, during the pre-conception period, the authors write.
[For more of this story go to https://www.sciencedaily.com/r.../06/160616105718.htm]
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