UNICEF’s vision for integrated, multilevel programming moves beyond approaching parents as recipients of information or education, to a more collaborative partnership where there is a co-construction of support for the child as well as for/with the parents themselves. Read More →
While there has been increasing attention in global public health towards designing and delivering programs, services, and policies to promote nurturing care, measurement has focused more on the components of health and nutrition, with less attention to early learning, responsive caregiving, and safety and security. This study provides a comprehensive review of the current state of measurement of nurturing care.Read More →
Published by the WHO Regional Office for Eastern Mediterranean, this operational guide is a step-by-step, action-oriented programmatic tool that complements existing resources and provides a clear approach to child and adolescent health in emergencies.Read More →
This publication summarizes results of an international survey conducted by ECDAN in December 2021 to identify pressing research priorities, with a specific focus on low- and middle-income countries. The survey identified components of nurturing care (i.e., health, nutrition, child protection, opportunities for learning, and responsive caregiving) that should be prioritized in the next 12 months. Read More →
The research round up describes the nature and scope of 411 peer-reviewed, publicly available scientific research studies published during January 2020 and October 2021 (an average of 30 articles per month) related to early childhood development (ECD). The authors summarize who the studies have been conducted with; where the studies have been conducted; how they have been conducted in terms of research design; and priority research topics addressed so far. Nearly 85% of the included COVID-19 studies address themes of maternal and child health or nutrition. In contrast, 9% of the studies focus on themes of early learning or responsive caregiving. Lastly, 7% of the COVID-19 studies focus primarily on children’s safety and security. Read More →
UNICEF’s Community-Infant and Young Child Feeding Counselling Package is used globally for infant and young child feeding counseling. This study aimed to: 1) identify and map existing nurturing care content; 2) identify gaps related to nurturing care or feeding elements; 3) identify country level nurturing care adaptations; and 4) identify best practices and lessons learned from country adaptations that can be recommended for inclusion.Read More →
This 5-minute recorded presentation describes barriers to and strategies for including men in MNCH services. The lessons learned are derived from Plan International Canada’s Strengthening Health Outcomes for Women (SHOW) project in Bangladesh.Read More →
This 5-minute recorded presentation provides examples of multipronged mass media campaigns in Zambia, Serbia, Oman and Jordan. It is part of a series of presentations developed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF in preparation for a three-day virtual meeting in April 2021.Read More →
This 5-minute recorded presentation provides a brief description of the Caring for the Caregiver (CFC) module. CFC aims to build front-line workers’ skills in strengths-based counselling to increase caregivers’ confidence and help them develop stress management, self-care and conflict-resolution skills to support their emotional well-being.Read More →
This 15-minute recorded presentation provides an overview of “Strategic actions 2 and 3. Focus on families and communities & Strengthen services.” It describes the three areas in this strategic action: governance, policy and finance.Read More →
The free app developed by UNICEF and national partners is designed to lend a helping hand to parents, with easy tips on topics like breast pumps, baby weaning, learning, toys, child protection and much more. The app is available in 14 languages and can be used both online and offline. Read More →
WATCH VIDEO Strategic action 1: Lead and invest This 15-minute recorded presentation provides an overview of “Strategic action 1. Lead and invest”. It describes the three areas in this strategic action: governance, policy and finance. Frequently asked questions, steps that have been shown to be effective and signs of progressRead More →
WATCH VIDEO Nurturing care for early childhood development – an overview This 15-minute recorded presentation introduces nurturing care for early childhood development. The presenters describe the science that informs the concept of nurturing care, present the Nurturing Care Framework, and reflect upon its implementation. This is one of a series ofRead More →
The ECD Workforce Hub is intended to advance the wellbeing of children and families by strengthening the capacity of the ECD workforce to deliver high-quality programs and policies. Read More →
In humanitarian response, practitioners often use humanitarian standards and sector-specific guidelines to standardize the planning, implementation, and evaluation of programming. While there have been some analysis of humanitarian standards and guidance, to our knowledge there has been no comprehensive review that analyzes existing humanitarian standards and guidance documents to identify alignment with ECD. To fill this gap, this study reviews 15 existing humanitarian standards and guidance documents and assesses the extent to which early childhood interventions and the needs of infants, young children, and caregivers are included.Read More →
This study was a two-arm, randomized controlled trial set in high volume, public tertiary care units in Ghana, India, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania. The babies in the immediate kangaroo mother care group started the intervention as soon as possible after birth and got an average of 17 hours per day in the Mother-Newborn ICU. In the control group, kangaroo mother care was started only after the baby was stable, with babies receiving KMC on an average of 1.5 hours per day while in the neonatal ICU. After clinically stable, babies in both the study groups received kangaroo mother care (about 19 hours/day) as recommended by WHO guidelines.Read More →
The ‘Responsive Interactions for Learning’ course aims to develop practitioners´ understanding of responsive interactions and increase their ability to coach these interactions with caregivers. This blog post describes how the course was developed, where it has been used (Canada, Chile, Brazil), and learnings.Read More →
This paper proposes a comprehensive, multisectoral, multilevel lifecourse conceptualisation of human capital development by building on the Nurturing Care Framework. Read More →
Life-saving services such as safe childbirth, immunisation, and nutritional rehabilitation ensure children in conflict settings survive. But surviving is not enough. If we want children to thrive in all aspects of their life, they not only need good health and nutrition, they also need to feel safe and secure, have opportunities to play, and be cared for responsibly. We call this nurturing care. Health care practitioners have a pivotal role to play. Find out how in this video.Read More →
This paper explores the experiences of neonatal health care providers caring for small and sick newborns during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey in three languages was used to collect data on COVID-19 preparedness, effects on health personnel and on newborn care services, including kangaroo mother care, as well as disruptors and solutions. There were 1120 responses from 62 countries, mainly low and middle-income countries.Read More →
