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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 →

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This analysis summarises the situation of young children across several policy areas impacting their development. It is based on data collected from nine European countries and consolidated in nine country profiles. It draws attention towards four key findings across policy areas impacting ECD and priorities for policy-making and investment in early childhood at the European and country level.Read More →

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This report summarizes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nurturing care for early childhood development based on the latest available data and proposes priority actions and interventions required to safeguard this critical period and ensure children’s optimal development during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report also showcases UNICEF Country Office initiatives supporting early childhood development across the five components of nurturing care.Read More →

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In light of COVID-19 restrictions, USAID Momentum and its implementing partners needed to modify delivery of the ‘First Steps Intera za Mbere’ programme, which enables caregivers with children aged 3 years and under to promote nurturing care. Following a phone survey to understand caregiver attitudes, knowledge and practices, they adapted the programme to be delivered via radio. This brief describes the adaptation process.Read More →

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‘Reach Up and Learn’ is a home visiting program that supports caregivers of children 0-3 years old in 18 countries. In response to the Syrian refugee crisis, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) adapted this model to train refugee and host community workers on how to promote opportunities for early learning and responsive caregiving in visits to caregivers of young children in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.Read More →

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The WHO has commissioned a systematic review and meta-analysis of 102 randomized controlled trials of parenting interventions for children during the first 3 years of life that were implemented across a total of 33 countries. Among the findings, the review found greater effects on child cognitive development, parenting knowledge, parenting practices, and parent–child interactions for programs that focused on responsive caregiving compared to those that did not.Read More →

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This report highlights examples of the International Rescue Committee’s ECD programming during the COVID-19 pandemic, including brief summaries of programmes in Pakistan, the Middle East and Africa. The report’s main focus is on Bangladesh where IRC worked with in-country partners to support pregnant and lactating women living in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps and surrounding communities with raising healthy and thriving infants.Read More →

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Starting in 2018, the United Nations’ Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and local partners took advantage of the growing interest in strengthening support for investment in ECD as part of Peru’s public policy agenda. This case study describes how the Care for Child Development approach was used at national and local levels, specifically how it was adapted for use in Peru’s Growth and Development Check-ups Programme (CRED in Spanish). Read More →

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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 →

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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 →

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The WHO South-East Asia Regional Office, in collaboration with UNICEF, organized a 3-day virtual meeting to promote nurturing care for early childhood development. The meeting brought together participants from 11 countries, with participants including government delegates from relevant ministries (health, nutrition, education, child protection, women and child affairs), WHO and UNICEF staff and partners. Read More →

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The Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) has more than 33,000 members across the country and is one of the largest professional associations of pediatricians in the region. In 2019, the President wrote about the important role pediatricians play in bridging science and parenting. Building on this, the IAP, working closely with the World Health Organization and UNICEF, have continued to draw attention to the important role pediatricians can play and are developing materials to support their practice. Read More →

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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 →

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This short animated video, the third in a series focusing on self-care interventions during COVID-19, includes tips on how caregivers/parents can relieve some of their own stress from COVID-19 and use every day activities to continue emotionally connected, attentive and responsive to their child’s needs. The video is based WHO guidance on early childhood development and responsive caregiving. This video was produced by PMNCH, UNICEF, and WHO and created by Studio Eeksaurus with support from Medical Aid Films. It is available in all six UN language​s.Read More →

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This video demonstrates how mothers with Covid-19 can breastfeed safely, providing their newborn with the best source of nutrition and protection to survive and thrive. The 60-second film was produced by award-winning Studio Eeksaurus of Mumbai with UK-based Medical Aid Films. The video is also available in the five official languages of the United Nations (Arabic, Mandarin, French, Russian and Spanish). This is the first in a series of videos regarding self-care during COVID-19. Read More →

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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 →

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This paper finds considerable inconsistency in guidance documents from 33 countries regarding breastfeeding and newborn care. None of the guidance documents reviewed recommended all aspects of WHO guidance. In this paper, health care providers from 62 countries share their experiences of caring for small and sick newborns during the COVID.-19 pandemic.Read More →