This report, one year after the launch of the Nurturing Care Framework, summarizes concerted efforts at national, regional, and global levels to disseminate the Framework and identify entry points in the health sector and beyond for implementation.Read More →
A recent paper in The Journal of Nutrition recommends: “Expanding conceptual models of child development to include the 5 components of the Nurturing Care Framework”, and says: “…health and nutrition alone may not be sufficient if children do not experience the learning opportunities, responsive caregiving, and security and safety that are part of the Nurturing Care Framework.”Read More →
The evidence for combined interventions is growing! In this systematic review and meta-analysis of early life interventions, the authors found that interventions that resulted in effects on linear growth (e.g., nutritional supplementation) were not significantly associated with effects on cognitive, language, or motor development scores. To ensure benefits for linear growth and neurobehavioural development we need to go beyond nutritional supplementation programming and include interventions targeting caregiving behaviour and learning opportunities that support the development of cognitive, language, motor, and social-emotional skills.Read More →
This overview of the NCF identifies avenues for innovation and collaboration in harmony with the field’s clinical, scientific, and advocacy agendas. One avenue involves enhancing the alignment between health systems and human rights. A second avenue involves neurodisability professionals engaging with nurturing care as leaders, partners, and implementers.Read More →
Understanding donor, government and out-of-pocket funding for early child development (ECD) is important for tracking progress. This paper, published in the British Medical Journal’s Archives of Disease in Childhood, aims to estimate a baseline for the Nurturing Care Framework, with a special focus on childhood disability.Read More →
Writing for the Daily Maverick, Director of Advocacy Aid Patricia Martin-Wiesner argues that achieving South Africa’s development vision in the next 25 years is possible if the country’s leadership prioritises the inclusive and equal development of children. Nurturing care is a formula for transformative, inclusive growth and development.Read More →
“Nurturing a child’s development today, to have an intelligent, creative and productive adult tomorrow, is increasingly the focus of every parent and pediatrician,” writes Dr Digant Shastri, National President of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP), in the journal Indian Pediatrics. IAP is currently working with UNICEF to produce guidelines for its members.Read More →
Using analysis structured according to the Nurturing Care Framework, this paper from BMJ shows that more efforts are needed to reduce inequalities in exposure to poverty, stunting, home stimulation and early education, in order to improve early childhood development. More investments are needed to improve and expand measures relevant to ECD in LMICs.Read More →
“Getting the world’s leading public health body to back guidelines supporting love and nurturing care was a feat of science and advocacy decades in the making” writes Annabelle Timsit, in an article on the World Economic Forum website. “In order to support kids, we must support their caregivers, because their love and care is what children really need to thrive.”Read More →
A new WHO guideline provides global, evidence-informed recommendations on improving early childhood development through interventions that support responsive caregiving and early learning. Evidence shows that early childhood development is an outcome of healthy, nurturing interactions between caregivers and children, and as such, the guideline focuses on the needs of both the caregivers and young children.Read More →
This paper from the Maternal and Child Survival Program on behalf of the Child Health Task Force takes an in-depth look at “thrive and transform” interventions — such as uptake of nurturing care — in relation to child survival interventions. It focuses on three African countries: Kenya, Senegal and Zambia, with further examples from Ghana and Rwanda.Read More →
This landmark report on child health and well-being is the first comprehensive, independent report looking at child health through the lens of changing climate and other existential threats, such as ecological degradation, migrating populations, conflict, pervasive inequalities, and predatory commercial practicesRead More →
This guidance note specifically targets the health sector and aims to catalyse country-level dialogue and action focusing on health service delivery and systems strengthening, while also outlining complementary actions by other sectors. It is relevant for national governments, specifically ministries of health, and for national and global development partners and other stakeholders. Read More →
The authors of this article in Lancet Global Health (June 2020) recommend UNICEF revise its conceptual framework of malnutrition and death to align with the associated Sustainable Development Goals and ensure children survive and thrive. The proposed revised conceptual framework recommends creating enabling environments at all levels and ensuring interventions address all five components of nurturing care.Read More →
The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action has produced a technical note on the protection of children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this brief is to support child protection practitioners to better respond to the child protection risks during a COVID-19 pandemic.Read More →
The Coalition for Children Affected by AIDS has produced a brief on what donors, policy makers, implementers and civil society can do to deliver integrated support for children and adolescents affected by HIV and AIDS. Those who face social and structural exclusion must be prioritised if we are to achieve HIV targets and broader SDGs. The most vulnerable are beyond the reach of mainstream services – that must change. Combining services and support in a comprehensive programme achieves far more and uses fewer resources. The Nurturing Care Framework can transform the life course of these children.Read More →
The Kenya Community Health Policy 2020-2030 includes nurturing care as a core component of the community health services package. It emphasizes the important role that community health volunteers and other personnel play in ensuring that children in the communities receive nurturing care, get playful opportunities to learn, and are protected from any form of harm.Read More →
UNICEF ECARO and ISSA have developed a set of Resource Modules for Home Visitors: Supporting Families for Nurturing Care, intended to better equip home visitors with the latest knowledge and tools to support and engage with the families of young children. These modules can be delivered through various training methods and adapted to train other service providers.Read More →
Published by WHO and UNICEF in 2012, this publication recommends play and communication activities for families to stimulate the learning of their children. Also, through play and communication, adults learn how to be sensitive to the needs of children and respond appropriately to meet them. These basic care-giving skills contribute to the survival, as well as the healthy growth and development, of young children.Read More →
This WHO/UNICEF training package equips community health workers with the knowledge and skills to counsel families to breastfeed young children and give their children nutritious complementary foods; play and communicate with their children to help them learn and to strengthen their relationships with their children; prevent childhood illnesses and injury; and recognize signs of illness and take their children to a health facility.Read More →
