Early Years 'Key' to Economic Well-Being
WASHINGTON, May 5 (OneWorld.net) - Investing in early childhood is one of the most effective ways to ensure children succeed in school and increase families' economic well-being, says a report released today in commemoration of Mother's Day.
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Mother and child eating at a nutritional training program in Botte, Guinea. © Jeffrey Allen"Early childhood care and development is a proven and powerful investment in national well-being and future economic prosperity," but millions of children around the world do not have access to the quality early learning and development programs that would help them excel later in life, says the international humanitarian group Save the Children in an annual report. State of the World's Mothers 2009 "shows that tools and resources exist to keep all children healthy, safe, and learning, but that these resources are not reaching the mothers and children who need them most." -
"Comprehensive early childhood development programs, starting in infancy, can put millions of children worldwide on the path to school success," said Save the Children President and CEO Charles MacCormack. "There are simple steps that parents and caregivers, even the poorest, can do to help babies and toddlers grow up healthier, do well in school, and reach their full potential."
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"The future of humankind will be defined by how well mothers today are able to raise the next generation," states Save the Children. However, mothers in developing countries face extreme health risks during pregnancy, childbirth, and the first weeks after birth. "Women in the world's least developed countries are 300 times more likely to die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications than women in developed countries," warns the United Nations children's agency in its annual publication, State of the World's Children, released earlier this year. To lower maternal and infant mortality, UNICEF -- much like Save the Children -- recommends improved and consistent primary health care and emphasizes the importance of educating girls.
State of the World's Mothers 2009: Investing in the Early Years
From: Save the Children
Executive Summary [click here to download the pdf]
Some 75 million children worldwide fail to complete primary school, either because they drop out in the early grades or because they never got the chance to attend school at all. In the United States, nearly 2.5 million fourth graders are not reading at grade level - this is 68 percent of all American fourth graders in public schools.
The cost to the world of this lost brain power is staggering.
Early childhood - the period from birth to age 5 - is the most critical period of growth and learning in a person's life. What happens - and what does not happen - during these earliest years influences how the rest of childhood, adolescence and adult life unfold. When children receive good quality care and learning opportunities in their earliest years, they have a better chance to grow up healthy, to do well in school, and to reach their full potential in well-being and productivity.
State of the World's Mothers 2009 looks at early childhood education as a proven investment in economic prosperity, social development and the survival and well-being of children and their families. It presents two first-ever indexes, ranking 100 developing countries and 50 U.S. states based on how well prepared their youngest children are to succeed in school. It examines economic data from around the world showing that investments in early childhood pay off over the long term. It also shows that tools and resources exist to keep all children healthy, safe and learning, but that these resources are not reaching the mothers and children who need them most.
KEY FINDINGS
1) Early childhood care and development is a proven and powerful investment in national well-being and future economic prosperity. Research from around the world consistently shows that investing in quality early learning programs is one of the most effective ways to improve children's success in school, to increase incomes and to reduce costs to society. In fact, the gains tend to be the highest when early childhood investments target the youngest children and the most disadvantaged groups. (To read more, turn to pages 13-15.)
2) In the United States, an alarming number of children are at great risk of failure in school because they are not getting the care and support they need in their early years. New Mexico, Nevada, Mississippi, Arizona and Alabama are the bottom five states where young children face the greatest obstacles to success in school. These states scored low on indicators of parental involvement, quality of home life and preschool participation. Parents in these states are clearly struggling to give their young children a good start in life - and as a result 71 to 81 percent of fourth graders in the public schools in these states are not reading at grade level. Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine are the top five states where, generally speaking, parents and communities are doing a better job of preparing children to succeed in school. (To read more, turn to pages 25-29.)
3) Compared to other wealthy countries, the United States is losing ground in educational attainment. The U.S. is falling behind in the resource that matters most in the new global economy: human capital. Four decades ago, America had the best high school graduation rate in the world, but by 2006 it had slipped to 18th out of 24 industrialized countries. As recently as 1995, the U.S. was still tied for first place in the proportion of young adults with a college degree, but by 2000 it had slipped to 9th place, and by 2006 to 14th place. The United States also has one of the highest college dropout rates in the industrialized world - 53 percent of Americans who enter college do not finish. (To read more, turn to pages 1-33.)
4) In the developing world, nearly 40 percent of all children under 5 fail to reach their potential in cognitive development because of poverty, poor health and nutrition and deficient care. Chad, Afghanistan, Burundi, Guinea-Bissau and Mali are the bottom five countries where children are most likely to miss out in primary school. In these countries, dire poverty, lack of public services and conflict stack the odds against the youngest children. Approximately 1 child in 5 in these countries does not even survive to age 5, and those who do often suffer from cognitive and physical impairments that limit their development and productivity. In Burundi, 25 percent of primary school-aged children are not attending school. In Mali, Chad and Guinea-Bissau, 37, 40 and 55 percent are not in school. Cuba, Armenia, Cyprus, Chile and Azerbaijan are the top five developing countries where children are better prepared to succeed in primary school. (To read more, turn to pages 9-11 and 17-23.)
5) The future of humankind will be defined by how well mothers today are able to raise the next generation. A mother's influence on her child's cognitive development begins before the child is born. Her education level, health, nutritional and economic status all impact the well-being of her child from the moment it is conceived. It is often said that a mother is her child's first and best teacher. Yet mothering, in many ways, has never been so difficult as it is in today's global world, and possibly never so isolated, unsupported and undervalued. Mothers around the world are solving child care challenges as best they can, but millions of the poorest mothers and caregivers need help to access tools, information and support to give their children the best possible future. (To read more, turn to pages 9-15 and 43-46.)
RECOMMENDATIONS
Child development experts - from local teachers to Nobel Prize winners - are telling the world about the critical importance of investing in the first five years of children's lives. But with few exceptions, the political will to take action for mothers and young children is the missing ingredient in this proven recipe for success. To help ensure more children succeed in school and in life, Save the Children has developed the following recommendations:
1) Invest in better health care for mothers and young children. The links between good health and nutrition and healthy brain development have been well documented. Good care for young children must begin with care for pregnant mothers, ensuring that they are adequately nourished, free from infections and exposure to harmful substances, and monitored for complications during pregnancy. Prenatal and postnatal care should include counseling to encourage a safe birth, awareness of danger signs that require immediate attention, a plan for going to a skilled health care provider, counseling on how to care for the newborn, and help to ensure breastfeeding. Health outreach strategies and funding must do a better job of targeting the poorest and most marginalized mothers and children in every country. More funding is needed for wellness, prevention and family planning, as well as for staffing, transport, equipment, medicine, health worker training and the day-to-day costs of operating health systems. Health care for young children should start in the home, where many of the simplest ailments can be successfully prevented or treated by informed parents, supported by community-based health outreach workers. (To read more, turn to pages 35-39.)
2) Provide coaching and information to help new mothers and fathers give their young children the best possible chance to succeed. Parents are the most influential people in a young child's life, and when they are equipped with better child-raising tools and techniques they can often do wonders. Many successful programs in developing and industrialized countries have improved outcomes for children by teaching new moms and dads to be better parents. This can be done through home-based coaching, community support groups and classes outside the home. In addition to breastfeeding and basic health care, these programs encourage parents to feed their children more nutritious food, to interact more with their children, to create a learning environment in the home, to reduce stress in the family and to discipline without hitting. Parenting coaches can also serve as a critical first line of defense against child abuse and neglect, intervening on the child's behalf when necessary and rallying community resources to safeguard the child. (To read more, turn to pages 35-39.)
3) Improve training and support for early child care providers and preschool teachers. Good child care is an extension of good parenting. The quality of early childhood education outside the home depends on the ability of the caregiver to provide a secure, consistent, sensitive, stimulating and rewarding environment. To be successful, early child care and preschool facilities - whether center, community or home based - should have sufficient numbers of staff for the number of children, and the caregivers should be well trained, well supervised and well paid. In addition, every effort should be made to retain caregivers so that they are consistent, familiar and reassuring figures in children's lives. (To read more, turn to pages 35-39.)
4) Expand early learning opportunities for children affected by AIDS, conflict and natural disasters. In communities destabilized by these crises, young children often need special attention. Governments and NGOS can help by creating "safe spaces" and alternative child care arrangements where young children benefit from a secure environment and a return to comforting routines. Through play, games, songs, art and other activities, children can process their emotions under the guidance of sympathetic adults, and begin to turn their lives around. (To read more, turn to pages 38-39.)
5) Increase government support for proven early childhood development solutions in the United States and around the world. Governments everywhere should invest in early childhood development (ECD) programs and create plans of action to expand ECD programs and improve related policies. The United States should demonstrate leadership toward the goal of "education for all" by providing $1 billion for basic education in developing countries - including support for early childhood development - and $900 million for child survival programs to provide critical health care to children under 5. The United States should also do more to help the youngest children in need here at home by considerably increasing funding for Early Head Start in fiscal year 2010, and doubling funding for the Child Care Development Block Grant. (To read more, turn to page 41.)
Click here to download the full report [pdf]
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