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 The failure to invest in early child development is costing some low
and middle income countries two to three times their current
expenditure on health, researchers calculated.
Experts say the first few years of life from conception onwards is
critical for brain development.
Writing in The Lancet medical journal, the scientists highlight
strong evidence linking stunting and extreme poverty to reduced
cognitive and educational development, poorer adult health and lower
earnings.
New analysis of data from 2010 - the latest figures available -
suggests 249.4 million or 43 percent of children under five in low
and middle income countries risk not meeting their developmental
potential - down from 279.1 million in 2004.
Factors include poor nutrition and sanitation, infections, lack of
nurturing care and inadequate stimulation in the early years.
In sub-Saharan Africa, two thirds of children are estimated to be at
risk of poor development due to stunting and poverty, followed by 65
percent in South Asia, and 18 percent in the Caribbean and South
America, the researchers found.
The worst affected countries include Liberia, Zambia, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Burundi, Niger and Malawi.
The series of reports in The Lancet comes ahead of a World Bank
summit on Thursday focusing on the importance of investing in early
child development for future economic growth.
Earlier this year World Bank President Jim Yong Kim warned that
childhood stunting was a "great unrecognised disaster".
He said countries which failed to invest in early child development
would be left behind because their future workforce would lack the
intellectual capacity to compete in an increasingly complex, digital
world.
Leaders and ministers from countries including Indonesia, Pakistan,
Guatemala, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Cameroon and
Senegal are set to attend the Washington meeting.
The authors of The Lancet reports highlight the importance of
providing free pre-school education, parental leave to support
bonding and childcare, support for breastfeeding and a minimum wage
sufficient to lift families out of poverty.
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Improved nutrition for mothers and young children, maternal mental
health care and prevention of child mistreatment and violence also
play a critical role, the authors say.
"Our economic analysis shows that the cost of inaction is huge, and
in many countries far exceeds their spending on health," co-author
Professor Gary Darmstadt of Stanford University School of Medicine
said in a statement.
"Supporting nurturing care is a wise investment, and one that should
be prioritised in all countries," added Darmstadt, a neonatal and
child development expert.
The analysis shows the cost of inaction compared to government
expenditure on health is particularly high in India, Pakistan and
Madagascar.
In June a group of Harvard scientists estimated that children born
in developing countries this year would lose more than $177 billion
in potential life-time earnings because of delays in physical
development.
(Editing by Katie Nguyen. Please credit the Thomson Reuters
Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers
humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and
climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)
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