CAIHR to release findings from 30-year study
AGROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH intervention started in the mid-1980s by the University of the West Indies’ Caribbean Institute for Health Research (CAIHR), then the Tropical Medicine Research Institute, that sought to build the skills of parents to promote their children’s development is now being implemented by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan.
The impressive body of research work, which informed government policy responses in early childhood development programmes in Jamaica and across the region, has also influenced policy at the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international development oganisations.
It has also been replicated in several countries, including Bangladesh, India, China, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Turkey, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala and Peru (where it is a national programme).
Next week Tuesday, Professor Susan Walker, the director of the CAIHR, and a team of researchers who have been engaged in the decades-long research will present findings and best practices in a dissemination session, which is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. at the UWI Regional Headquarters at the Mona campus.
RESPONSE TO HIGH INCIDENCE OF STUNTING IN CHILDREN
“This rare intervention commenced as the Jamaica Supplementation and Stimulation Study between 1986-1987 among 127 children aged 9-24 months living in poor neighbourhoods of Kingston,” said Professor Walker.
“It was in response to the relatively high incidence of stunting in children due to undernutrition that was known to affect children’s development. Our two-year study evolved into a major journey into early childhood development research that has spanned 30 years and for which there is still scope to do more interesting work.”
The CAIHR director lauded the support of the World Bank, which responded through its Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund, financing critical follow-up evaluations of participants in the study.
“These analyses conducted at the median age of 22 years and then later at age 32 show the outstanding outcomes in IQ benefits, reduced violent behaviour, and improved welfare and economic earnings,” noted Professor Walker.
“On behalf of The University of the West Indies, we are proud to share how CAIHR’s research work has demonstrated the effects of early-childhood interventions on adulthood, offering policymakers and development experts a body of evidence on which to design and implement progressive earlychildhood development policies and legislation.”