SEATTLE — According to a June 2016 study conducted by researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, malnutrition and preventable diseases kill fewer children today than ever before. PLoS Medicine published this study of cognitive deficits, showing fascinating results.
Unfortunately, some negative revelations tied to the study arose. Numbers indicated that though deaths are dropping, children are still failing to meet certain milestones in life crucial to their development.
The study brought to light that over one-third of young children in developing nations between the age of three and four fall behind in their cognitive growth. A significant number of children in these areas have the health potential to survive and thrive, but the neglect of their cognitive development severely hinders their growth. As a result of this neglect, their mental health, success in reaching certain educational levels and overall adulthood can decline and suffer.
“The international community should now start to focus on the potential of children, and not just their survival,” Dana McCoy, lead author of the study told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The study, funded through Grand Challenges Canada, draws from data collected by UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. Information was collected from designated caregivers of almost 100,000 children living in low- to middle-income countries between the years of 2005 and 2015. The majority of children found to be cognitively deficit reside in the areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, Chad, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic.
In fact, this research project took place due to the decrease in poverty-related deaths. The study is one of the first research projects to survey the global cognitive, psychological and societal deficits occurring in children living amidst poverty-stricken areas. Earlier studies have been based on physical growth in conjunction to poverty exposure. Thankfully though, the decrease in poverty levels have allowed researchers to focus more on mental complexities and necessities.
The released study is a part of a larger project that will eventually estimate the epidemiological and economic impacts of risk factors in poverty-stricken child development. A team of multi-disciplinary clinicians, economists, psychologists, epidemiologists, nutritional scientists, disease and risk factor modelers and statisticians at the various universities (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Imperial College London, Aga Khan University in Pakistan and Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania) are working diligently on a solution to these cognitive deficit issues.
“By virtue of the fact that these children are not meeting these milestones doesn’t mean they can’t go on to have a very healthy, happy and productive life,” McCoy told Thomson Reuters.
McCoy believes that the study provides an outline for an easy fix. She believes that there are a number of educational programs that could be implemented to help decrease cognitive deficits. If implemented at the appropriate age, these programs will significantly aid child development, allowing children to thrive in their respective settings.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada, Dr. Peter A. Singer, this is a challenge worth addressing.
“When one in three children is failing to reach their full potential, we are looking at one of the world’s grandest challenges. This research helps shine an ever brighter light on the value of investing in a child’s earliest years — for the benefit of our children, our world and our future,” Singer told Grand Challenges Canada.
Hopefully these new research indications will reduce continued poverty and cognitive deficits, and allow children to physically and mentally thrive.
– Katie Grovatt
Photo: Flickr