Building a strong foundation for healthy development in the early years of life is a prerequisite for individual well-being, economic productivity, and harmonious societies around the world. Growing scientific evidence also demonstrates that social and physical environments that threaten human development (because of scarcity, stress, or instability) can lead to short-term physiologic and psychological adjustments that are necessary for immediate survival and adaptation, but which may come at a significant cost to long-term outcomes in learning, behavior, health, and longevity. Generally speaking, ministries of health prioritize child survival and physical well-being, ministries of education focus on schooling, ministries of finance promote economic development, and ministries of welfare address breakdowns across multiple domains of function. Advances in the biological and social sciences offer a unifying framework for generating significant societal benefits by catalyzing greater synergy across these policy sectors. This synergy could inform more effective and efficient investments both to increase the survival of children born under adverse circumstances and to improve life outcomes for those who live beyond the early childhood period yet face high risks for diminished life prospects.
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February 2012
Special Article|
February 01 2012
An Integrated Scientific Framework for Child Survival and Early Childhood Development
Jack P. Shonkoff, MD;
aCenter on the Developing Child at Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts;
Address correspondence to Jack P. Shonkoff, MD, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, Harvard University, 50 Church Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. E-mail: jack_shonkoff@harvard.edu
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Linda Richter, PhD;
Linda Richter, PhD
bHuman Sciences Research Council and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa;
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Jacques van der Gaag, PhD;
Jacques van der Gaag, PhD
cCenter for Universal Education, Brookings Institution, and the Amsterdam Institute for International Development, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands and
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Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, MB
Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, MB
dDivision of Women and Child Health, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
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Address correspondence to Jack P. Shonkoff, MD, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, Harvard University, 50 Church Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. E-mail: jack_shonkoff@harvard.edu
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: The authors have indicated that they have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.
Pediatrics (2012) 129 (2): e460–e472.
Article history
Accepted:
September 28 2011
Citation
Jack P. Shonkoff, Linda Richter, Jacques van der Gaag, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta; An Integrated Scientific Framework for Child Survival and Early Childhood Development. Pediatrics February 2012; 129 (2): e460–e472. 10.1542/peds.2011-0366
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