Each child, under 03 years, should have the facility of regular health checkup, immunization, growth promotion and supplementary feeding and referral services. Additionally, the age group of 3 to 6 requires nutrition, health education, early child care and pre-school education. The job can easily be accomplished by lady health workers and preschool teachers. A comprehensive ECD based Primary Health Care Program should also cater to the needs of adolescents, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and all women between 15 to 45 years of age.
The time of early childhood should merit the highest-priority attention when responsible governments are making decisions about laws, policies, programs and money. Yet, tragically both for children and for nations, these are the years that receive the least.
Timely and appropriate early childhood care saves lives. Wherever it is found, whether in war-ravaged countries or industrialized societies, programs that focus on health, education and social well-being of the youngest citizens have made a profound difference in children's survival, growth and development.
What is a fair price to pay for saving children? India's Integrated Child Development Services was estimated in 1994 to cost 27 cents a day for each child. During the same year, the Hogares Comunitarios de Bienestar program in Colombia, operating in 55,000 sites and offering full day care including food, was estimated to cost 38 cents a day. Many countries spend considerably more, with governments absorbing much of the cost.
Far-sighted leaders understand that money spent now on early childhood care will pay off in the form of healthier, more productive children and in stable families that are able to sustain themselves and contribute to society. Indeed, choosing not to provide early care for all children is the costliest mistake. For every $1 invested in the physical and cognitive development of babies and toddlers, there is an estimated $7 return, mainly from cost savings in the future.
By championing the rights of the youngest children, we are taking the first step to breaking the bonds of poverty, violence, disease and discrimination and to building a world of hope and change. As Priyanthi has discovered by seeing her own small treasure thrive, the true wealth of a nation is measured in the health and strength of its youngest citizens.
Early childhood care for survival, growth and development is just an empty phrase unless governments in developing countries allocate sufficient resources (UNICEF recommend 20%) from their national budget to the basic social services and donors also do the same.
(Excerpted from: State of the World’s Children 2001 - UNICEF).
Compiled by: Dr. Shaikh Tanveer Ahmed
Executive Coordinator, Health and Nutrition Development Society (HANDS)
Dr. Shaikh Tanveer Ahmed is the Executive Coordinator of Health and Nutrition Development Society (HANDS). He has been working in the field of social development, especially health, for more than fifteen years. Dr. Ahmed has also authored and presented many papers in national and international conferences.
