The whole-child approach to neurodevelopment

Across the world, improvements in neurodevelopment outcomes during early childhood have consistently lagged behind improvements in child mortality, stunting, wasting and exposure to infectious diseases.  1 in 10 children globally are estimated to have some degree of neurodevelopmental delay. with immediate and long-term consequences on themselves, their families and communities. Over 80% of these delays are due to preventable causes such as poverty and poor nutrition. Effective interventions are available which, in some conditions, reverse delays completed if administered within the first 3 years of life. 

Yet we are falling behind in our efforts to help most, if not all, children to achieve their full developmental potential. 

We aim to transform current research in early child development by incorporating the 'whole child' approach by looking at all factors affecting a child's early development. This is important because, to tackle a problem as large and important as child development, we need to understand all its causes and how they interact with each other to confer risk. This will enable us to develop a system by which, when a child is born anywhere in the world, healthcare professionals can estimate its risk for developmental delay.

Identifying children at risk of delays is the first step in helping children achieve their full developmental potential. Only if children are identified to be at risk, do they have the opportunity to avail of interventions to support their development. 

Who we are working with

We are working closely with research groups in 13 countries. The populations of these countries are geographically and cultural disparate, and the children in each study are representative of each country's population of children.  As children in different countries are exposed to different influences during early childhood, we try to capture and examine all of these in this Project.