Summary - improving early childhood development WHO Guideline

Overview

Enabling young children to achieve their full developmental potential is a human right and a critical requisite for sustainable development. Evidence in the Lancet series Advancing early childhood development: from science to scale (Lancet, 2017) highlights the profound benefits of investing in early childhood development (ECD) for learning, productivity, health and social cohesion along the life course. The series highlighted the critical importance of the early years and coined the term ‘nurturing care’ as a central tenet of what is required to achieve optimal development, namely health, nutrition, security and safety, responsive caregiving and opportunities for early learning.