The importance of an early start

摘要

The first 1,000 days of life, from conception to age two, is a critical phase of a child's development. The greatest opportunities to make a tangible difference to children's outcomes occur when they are very young. Growing up experiencing material hardship j such as food insecurity and poor-quality housing can have a lifelong impact on health and development. Babies born into poverty are more likely to have a low birth weight and by the age of three, poorer children are on average nine months behind in developmental terms than their wealthier peers.