Blog 1

Children living in conflict zones

Throughout the world, there are children living in war zones that are experiencing psychological consequences due to exposure of violence. Children that are exposed to the adverse effects of wars have a higher chance of developing mental health problems⁽²²⁾. Palestinian children in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) have been exposed to high levels of violence, including military raids, imprisonment, home demolitions, personal injury and suffered the death of loved ones⁽²³⁾.

Statistics from studies report that 48% of children had personally experienced or witnessed political violence while 93% reported not feeling unsafe and vulnerable to attacks, 52% of children also reported that they felt their parents could not protect them from all the violence that was occurring⁽²⁴⁾. Children living in high conflict zones have also been found to exhibit higher levels of aggression, violence and revenge seeking behaviours⁽²⁵⁾. These behaviours are likely due to (a) having inadequate social support systems, (b) perception of self-unworthiness, (c) the belief that surrounding adults are non-trustful and (d) the presence of various threatening and unsafe social institutions⁽²⁵⁾.

Wars have also often lead to famine which in turn affects the nutrition that these children receive. A study conducted in war-torn Bosnia found that children’s diets were insufficient in quality and quantity⁽²⁶⁾. Preschool children are often the ones at the most risk of suffering nutritional deficit in time of conflict⁽²⁷⁾. 

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In this blog post we will be taking a look at how early childhood interventions can impact the lives of children living in – areas of high conflict – low and middle income countries (LMIC). We will then be taking a look at how these early childhood programmes/interventions can help meet certain Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs).

Why are Early Childhood Interventions important?

First off, you must be wondering why is the need for early childhood interventions so crucial or maybe perhaps why global child development is such an important issue. Findings suggests that 219 million (39%) children younger than 5 years in LMICs are at the risk of not reaching their developmental potential⁽¹⁾. Children that are exposed to poverty and adverse events are more likely to have long-term physiological effects on brain development and cognition^(2,3). Evidence has shown that adverse exposures pose the greatest harm from the period of conception up to 3 years⁽⁴⁾. 

Can something be done to elevate these circumstances?

However, these adverse effects can be mitigated by early interventions. Some of the benefits of early childhood interventions include: increase in adult wage earnings⁽⁵⁾, reductions in violence, depressive symptoms and social inhibition⁽⁶⁾ and increased long-term educational consequences⁽⁷⁾.

Children are able to reach their developmental potential through acquiring developmental competencies for academic, behavioural, socio-emotional and economic accomplishments. Moreover, multiple factors can influence the acquisition of these developmental competencies. Such factors include: mental and physical health, security and safety, early learning and being in a responsive caregiving environment. All of these factors play an integral role in nurturing care as they interact among each other. 

Nurturing care is described as a home environment that is (a) sensitive to a child’s health and nutritional needs, (b) responsive, (c) emotionally supportive and developmentally stimulating and appropriate, with opportunities for play and exploration with protection from adversities⁽⁸⁾. Studies have also found positive effects of nurturing care on children’s health, growth and development⁽⁹⁾. Nurturing care has also been found to reduce the damaging effects of low socioeconomic status on children’s brain development⁽¹⁰⁾. Nurturing care also extends beyond care provided by families and includes community caregivers and support for families.

Examples of Early Childhood Interventions being implemented

With all the details out of the way, you might be wondering how are all these early childhood programmes implemented. Well some of the activities implemented in early childhood programmes include (a) home activities and (b) centre-based child care and preschool. With regards to home activities, low-cost activities such as storytelling and singing, and playing with everyday household objects while exposing young children to new experiences are used to promote and stimulate early learning and development⁽¹¹⁾.

Televisions and other medias have also been used to increase access of early childhood programmes. An example of television being used specifically targeting children is Sesame Street. A meta-analysis that looked at more than 10,000 children from 15 countries found an increase in children’s (a) literacy and numeracy skills, (b) health and safety, (c) social reasoning skills and (d) positive attitude towards others⁽¹²⁾. 

With regards to centre-based child care and preschool programmes, a study found that children under 5 years in LMIC benefitted from child care programmes⁽¹³⁾. However, not all child care programmes are equal as some have been seen to potentially cause more harm than good if it is of poor quality⁽¹⁴⁾. Quality child care programmes can be described as having good (a) infrastructure, (b) caregiver training, (c) caregiver-child ratios , (d) caregiver-child interactions and (e) lots of opportunities for play and exploration⁽¹⁾. On the other hand, attending preschool has been shown to positively predict children’s future performance in primary school⁽¹⁵⁾. There is an observed increase in positive effects of preschool attendance when education and nutrition programmes are implanted side-by-side⁽¹⁶⁾.

Interventions implemented from as early as conception

Interventions can also be implemented from as early as conception⁽¹⁷⁾. These interventions place a great focus on the health of the mother. Interventions during this period include:

• Iodine supplementation (before or during pregnancy)⁽¹⁸⁾
• Magnesium sulphate supplementation for women at risk of preterm birth⁽¹⁹⁾ 
• Providing a balanced energy and protein diet with the inclusion of micronutrients⁽²⁰⁾
• Reducing maternal depression⁽²¹⁾

What are Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

Now that we have discussed some of the effects of early childhood interventions, we can focus on how these interventions can contribute to achieving the SDGs. You might be wondering by now, what are SDGs? They are a set of goals that provides a blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. In general, SDGs are basically “call for actions” for countries be it developed or developing. Several of these goals focus on the development of children’s physical and mental – health and well-being. There are in total 17 goals that make up the SDGs (click here to have a look at the entire SDGs list). The impact of early childhood interventions can help achieve some of these goals. However, for this blog only a few of these goals will be mentioned and discussed as not all are related to early childhood interventions. Some of the SDGs that are relevant to the effects of early childhood interventions are SDG 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 and 16.

Early Childhood Interventions can contribute towards achieving SDGs by:

• Ensuring healthy lives by promoting well-being for all at all ages (Target 3)
• Human development from early childhood (Target 4.2)
• Early childhood development through primary and secondary schooling (Target 4.1)
• Providing technical and vocational education and university (Target 4.3)
• Enhancing acquisition of skills and knowledge to promote sustainable development (Target 4.7)
• Preparing the youth for employment and entrepreneurship (Target 4.4)
• Ending all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere (Target 5.1)
• Ending abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children (Target 16.2)

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