A child’s early years are the foundation upon which their whole lives are built.
Such a simple statement surely goes without saying, but advances in our understanding of the relationship between early experience, brain development and outcomes make the point most clearly: Children’s opportunities for health, emotional well-being and life success are determined in large part by their early development.
A child deprived in its early years can leave him or she with life-long deficits; high-quality early learning and care help to stimulate cognitive and social development. This sounds pretty good for the child and their family, but is there more to it? There is mounting evidence from economists that make a strong argument for investing early in child health and development as an important driver of economic growth. And there is agreement that the most cost-effective human capital interventions occur among young children.
Leaving aside the social implications, child poverty leads to higher health care costs and exacts a major cost on their potential and future productivity. Fortunately, investing in early learning and child care are great investments.
It is estimated that for each dollar we spend in the early childhood years we get back at least $4 and as much as $8. One recent study showed that a provincially-funded early learning and child care program more than paid for itself by increasing tax revenues from working parents. Moreover, this early investment also enhances parents’ employability, helps generate tax revenues and reduces the need for expensive remedial programs down the road.
Public policies that support child and youth health all work to improve a child’s opportunities for success later in life. Among the simplest but most cost-effective is a publicly funded immunization program. Another is hearing screening for newborns that can identify problems early so that interventions have the best chance of helping the child.
Another effective program is the 18-month well-baby visits by public health nurses. This provides an opportunity to examine a child’s progress and to identify areas where a child or family is having difficulty. As with all interventions, early action always brings better results.
Public policies that encourage or mandate the use of bicycle helmets and booster seats help children and youth. In both cases, these safety measures save lives and reduce injury or disability. Sounds simple?
Minimizing the exposure of children and youth to smoking seems almost too obvious, but without good public policy (e.g. no smoking in public buildings; age restrictions on sales) the positive results we have seen would not be found.
Not so simple are measures needed to reduce child poverty. That this is a good strategy is simple: there is ample evidence that child poverty can lead to poor health outcomes during adulthood, including cardiovascular disease and stroke, type II diabetes and mental health issues. Any public policy must launch from the understanding that poverty is not a given. That is can be eliminated or drastically reduced is evident from successes in Newfoundland and Quebec. Unfortunately, British Columbia lags in this area of public policy.
Children’s early experiences are critical to their future health, learning and behaviour. This connection counts both for their future, but also all our futures. You can’t promote prosperity and health if you don’t nurture and support child development.
Editor’s note: Dr. Paul Martiquet is the medical health officer for rural Vancouver Coastal Health including Powell River, the Sunshine Coast, Sea-to-Sky, Bella Bella and Bella Coola.
