Early childhood suspected developmental delay in 63 low- and middle-income countries: Large within- and between-country inequalities documented using national health surveys.
2Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.Background: The Sustainable Development Goals call for inclusive, equitable and quality learning opportunities for all. This is especially important for children, to ensure they all develop to their full potential....
| Published in: | Journal of Global Health Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 1 - 11 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
Edinburgh University Global Health Society
2020
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=144276760&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 144276760 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 20472978 DBQG jtl: Journal of Global Health issn: 20472978 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2020 vid: 10 iid: 1 pid: 72708 pub: Edinburgh University Global Health Society artinfo: ui: 144276760 144276760 NLM32566165 144276760 10.7189/jogh.10.010427 NLM32566165 144276760 ppf: 1 ppct: 10 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Early childhood suspected developmental delay in 63 low- and middle-income countries: Large within- and between-country inequalities documented using national health surveys. aug: au: Gil, Jesus D. C. Ewerling, Fernanda Ferreira, Leonardo Z. Barros, Aluisio J. D. Gil, Jesus Dc Barros, Aluisio Jd affil: International Center for Equity in Health, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil sug: subj: Child Development Disorders Health Status Disparities Low and Middle Income Countries Human Child Surveys Child Development Learning Socioeconomic Factors Mothers Confidence Intervals Questionnaires Child: 6-12 years ab: 2Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.Background: The Sustainable Development Goals call for inclusive, equitable and quality learning opportunities for all. This is especially important for children, to ensure they all develop to their full potential. We studied the prevalence and inequalities of suspected delay in child development in 63 low- and middle-income countries.Methods: We used the early child development module from national health surveys, which covers four developmental domains (physical, social-emotional, learning, literacy-numeracy) and provides a combined indicator (early child development index, ECDI) of whether children are on track. We calculated the age-adjusted prevalence of suspected delay at the country level and stratifying by wealth, urban/rural residence, sex of the child and maternal education. We also calculated measures of absolute and relative inequality.Results: We studied 330 613 children from 63 countries. Prevalence of suspected delay for the ECDI ranged from 3% in Barbados to 67% in Chad. For all countries together, 25% of the children were suspected of developmental delay. At regional level, prevalence of delay ranged from 10% in Europe and Central Asia to 42% in West and Central Africa. The literacy-numeracy domain was by far the most challenging, with the highest proportions of delay. We observed very large inequalities, and most markedly for the literacy-numeracy domain.Conclusions: To date, our study presents the most comprehensive analysis of child development using an instrument especially developed for national health surveys. With a quarter of the children globally suspected of developmental delay, we face an immense challenge. The multifactorial aspect of early child development and the large gaps we found only add to the challenge of not leaving these children behind. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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