Governments around the world must do more to make sure children from birth to age three receive the right kind and amount of nutrition, protection and care, according to a new report from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The first three years of a child’s life are critical to their development, and influence their ability to speak, learn, reason, and fight disease for the rest of their lives. These, however, are the years when they receive the least attention from government programs, according to the new "The State of the World’s Children 2001" report.

Governments and even agencies such as UNICEF focus too much on boosting survival rates of infants and improving access to education for children older than three, neglecting the children in between, the report state.

UNICEF estimates this new emphasis would require $80 billion a year to give every young child in the world a "good start in life."

The report also suggests that governments implement programs to teach parents why nurturing their young children emotionally, mentally, and physically is so important. One example the report provided was that of the "cooing" sounds mothers make to their young children actually helps the synapses in a child’s brain translate the sounds into language.

According to the report, if the first 36 months of a child’s life pass without the child’s brain receiving appropriate kinds of stimulation and in sufficient quantity, the child’s ability to learn can be greatly reduced. Nutrition is also key to healthy brain development at this time, and malnourished child are at special risk for developmental problems.

The report emphasizes the long-term benefits of caring for the very young, including decreased costs in health care, remedial education, and other social services as children develop and grow into adults.

"The greatest tragedy is that many decision-makers simply don't know how crucial those first three years of life are," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said. "But we have made great strides in understanding human development, and we are now certain that those years are vital to everything that comes later. Investments made today will yield high returns to children and society in the future."

The full version of this news release can be found at:
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/00prsowc2001.htm