Building brains, building futures: Early moments of life are crucial

WHAT’s the most important thing children have? It’s their brains. And yet, we’re not caring for children’s brains the way we care for their bodies, especially in early childhood, when what we do — or fail to do — has an impact on children’s futures and the futures of their economies and their societies.

Early Moments Matter for Every Child, UNICEF’s new global report on early childhood development, shows that the period from conception to the start of school opens a critical and singular window of opportunity to shape the development of a child’s brain.

The new global early childhood development report presents the latest scientific evidence on how experiences and environments during the earliest years of life have a profound and lasting impact on children’s present and future health, happiness, ability to learn and solve conflicts peacefully, and even how much they will earn when they reach adulthood.

The report also presents a sobering picture of how millions of children are growing up without protection, good nutrition and stimulating experience such as play and early learning, putting their optimal development at risk.

Moreover, the report highlights more support is needed for parents of babies and young children, as only 15 countries worldwide have three basic national policies that help guarantee the time and resources parents need to support their young children’s healthy brain development.

Zimbabwe currently has one of the three policies — paid breastfeeding breaks up to six months. Worse, 32 countries — home to one in eight of the world’s children under five — have none of these policies in place. These policies help parents better protect their children and provide them with better nutrition, play and early learning experiences in the crucial first years of life when the brain grows at a rate never to be repeated. The rapid brain growth that happens during this period of life is astounding. At this time, brain connections form at an unrepeated speed, giving shape and depth to children’s cognitive, emotional and social development — influencing their capacity to learn, to solve problems and to relate to others. This, in turn, has a significant impact on their adult lives, affecting their ability to earn a living and contribute to their societies . . . even their future happiness.

For millions of the world’s most disadvantaged children, we are missing this window of opportunity.

A 20-year study showed that children from poor households who received high-quality stimulation at a young age earned an average of 25 percent more as adults than those who did not receive these interventions. And yet, governments worldwide spend less than an estimated 2 percent of their education budgets on early childhood programmes.

Children who do not receive the nutrition they need are at risk of stunted cognitive and physical development.

And yet, at least 155 million children suffer from stunting and millions more are at risk from poor nutrition.

Violence, abuse, neglect and traumatic experiences produce high levels of cortisol — a hormone that produces toxic stress that limits neural connectivity in developing brains. And yet, around the world, nearly 250 million children live in conflict zones, 75 million are younger than 5. Millions more live in other emergencies.

Emerging research shows that breathing in particulate pollution can break down critical barriers in a child’s developing brain, leading to the loss and damage of neural tissue. And yet, around the world, around 300 million children live in areas where the air is toxic, exceeding international limits by at least six times.

What happens to the children exposed to these dangers in their earliest days? And what happens to their societies? When children miss out on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented in early childhood to develop healthy brains and lives, we as a global community perpetuate intergenerational cycles of disadvantage and inequality. Life by life, missed opportunity by missed opportunity, we are increasing the gap between the haves and the havenots and undermining our own long-term strength and stability.

For today’s children are tomorrow’s skilled workers. These include doctors, teachers, lawyers and leaders.

Their productivity will fuel tomorrow’s economies. Their capacity to contribute will shape tomorrow’s societies.

What we do now to foster their brain development and potential will determine their futures — and our own. ◆ For more information contact:

harare@unicef.org