Harnessing global data update

COVID-19 has severely stretched the capacity of families to maintain their sense of wellbeing and mental health, and disrupted access to social and environmental supports and many families are grappling with the loss of both loved ones and livelihoods. The global recession, and introduction of austerity measures and budget cuts are likely to further undermine children’s access to services and support systems. While climate change, rising temperatures and extreme weather events are shaking the very foundations of our planetary life support system and fuelling a rise in anxiety, depression and PTSD.

KEY FINDINGS:

1. Nearly 1 in 3 people in South Africa will experience a mental disorder in their lifetime, and most mental health disorders have their roots in early childhood and adolescence.

2. While there are no national prevalence data, mental health problems affect an estimated 10 -20% of children and adolescents in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with the most common being anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance-use disorders. KEY HIGHLIGHT:

Given these existing challenges and emerging shocks to the system, a focus on remedies and on enabling children and families to cope with adversity is both urgent and essential. The 2021 Child Gauge therefore aims to focus attention on opportunities to promote child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing across the life course; and identify emerging and best practice policy and programmes for prevention, promotion and treatment both within and outside the health care system.

HARNESSING GLOBAL DATA

After the release of the groundbreaking 2017 Lancet Series on advancing early childhood development, a key recommendation was the development of a global monitoring and evaluation system. The Countdown to 2030 Country Profiles on Early Childhood Development were thus devised, providing available data for each country and allowing progress to be tracked on 42 indicators. While initially 91 country profiles were released, 138 low- and- middle income countries were included in 2019. This work gave rise to the Harnessing Global Data Project, funded by the UKRI’s Global Challenges Research Fund, and led by Professors Linda Richter, who heads the CoE-HUMAN Durban office, and Alan Stein (University of Oxford). The project brings together researchers, policymakers and implementers from around the world to use available data on young children in low- and middle-income countries to improve child development, early learning and pre-primary education through better understanding of the determinants of and risks to children’s development, the economic consequences of inaction, and policy and legal frameworks to address challenges.

UNICEF’s ECD Countdown to 2030 country profiles included data from 197 countries and contained 42 early childhood development (ECD) indicators. This gives the most comprehensive picture of about 99.8% of the world’s children younger than five years old.

In 2021, the researchers modelled global estimates of the impacts of Covid on the world’s youngest children. Already data reveals that 10.75 million additional children fell “off track” in their early development, with this concentrated in LMICs.