| Pia Rebello Britto, Stephen Lye, Kerrie Proulx, Aisha K Yousafzai, Stephen G Matthews, Rafael Perez-Escamilla, Nirmala Rao, Patrick Ip, Lia C H Fernald, Harriet MacMillan, Mark Hanson, Theodore Wachs, Haogen Yao, Tyler Vaivada, Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Adrian Cerezo, James F Leckman, Zulfiqar A Bhutta
The article "Nurturing Care: Science and Effective Interventions to Promote Early Childhood Development" provides a comprehensive review of interventions across five sectors—health, nutrition, education, child protection, and social protection—to promote Early Childhood Development (ECD). The review emphasizes the importance of implementing these interventions as multi-sectoral packages anchored in "nurturing care," which is defined as a stable environment that supports children's health, nutritional needs, protection, early learning, and responsive, supportive interactions. The authors highlight that successful interventions should be applied at appropriate developmental stages, target multiple risks, and build on existing delivery platforms for scalability. They propose three illustrative intervention packages: Family Support and Strengthening Package, 'Caring for the Caregiver' Multi-Generational Nurturing Care Package, and Early Learning & Protection Package. The article calls for greater integration of sectoral interventions with nurturing care to improve developmental outcomes and suggests that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a historic opportunity to implement these interventions at scale.The article "Nurturing Care: Science and Effective Interventions to Promote Early Childhood Development" provides a comprehensive review of interventions across five sectors—health, nutrition, education, child protection, and social protection—to promote Early Childhood Development (ECD). The review emphasizes the importance of implementing these interventions as multi-sectoral packages anchored in "nurturing care," which is defined as a stable environment that supports children's health, nutritional needs, protection, early learning, and responsive, supportive interactions. The authors highlight that successful interventions should be applied at appropriate developmental stages, target multiple risks, and build on existing delivery platforms for scalability. They propose three illustrative intervention packages: Family Support and Strengthening Package, 'Caring for the Caregiver' Multi-Generational Nurturing Care Package, and Early Learning & Protection Package. The article calls for greater integration of sectoral interventions with nurturing care to improve developmental outcomes and suggests that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a historic opportunity to implement these interventions at scale.