The imperative of investing in early years

Research has demonstrated the imperative of assuring everyone has the very best start in life (Marmot et al. 2020). The circumstances that infants and young children find themselves at the very start of their lives impact their entire future. The building blocks for their physical, cognitive, social and emotional lives are laid before and during birth and in the first few years of life and impact upon their educational attainment, what type of job and income they go on to have and of course their health. Environments where there is poverty, violence, conflict or war around the world, result in distressing risks to infant’s and young children’s safety, health and development. However, in all countries and whatever the environment, supporting and investing in early years care is good for all of the society and its future. A clear model which identifies the fundamental aspects of appropriate support for infants, young children and their families is the Nurturing Care Framework (2018) which was developed by the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and other partners. The Framework outlines five components of nurturing care which is described as the set of conditions to support infants and young children to develop to their full potential. The five components are: