Introduction

Early childhood development refers to the physical, cognitive, motor, and social-emotional development that takes place between 0-8 years of age. In children development, research has found out that the early years of the child are very critical because it is a point when the brain is developing rapidly, and there is a high potential for change as well as laying a foundation for the emotional and physical wellbeing of children for the rest of their lives (Godfrey, Inskip, and Hanson, 2011, p. 257). In this case, children during early development stages should be able to access appropriate healthcare and nutritional needs. Besides, children in early development stages should be protected from potential environmental threats and given opportunities to acquire knowledge and satisfying emotional interactions with those around them (Moore and Skinner, 2010, p. 32). Poverty and malnutrition have been associated with poor social capacity and community health due to the negative implications that this has on the overall childhood development (Setboonsarng, 2005, p. 5). This essay will assess how poverty and malnutrition affect the overall childhood development required environment and the benefits of intervening to improve the nurturing environment for optimal childhood development.

Poverty Impact on Early Childhood Development

Poverty is a term that is adopted for a multifaceted concept of the social, economic, and political elements that results in the lack of necessary needs such as food, clothing, and shelter (Engle and Black, 2008, p. 243). As a result, poverty leads to a situation where the society cannot be able to cater for its basic needs which makes it difficult for caretakers to be able to provide a nurturing environment for their children. The United Nations data shows that 783 million people in the world today live below poverty with conflict-affected countries being primarily affected by poverty. Besides, the United Nations notes that 160 million children are at risk of continuing to live in poverty by 2030 which shows the threat of poverty on early childhood education and childhood development in developing countries in sub-Saharan African and Southern Asia.

Poverty has become a global concern due to the resulting geographical and community differences with poverty being associated with the ability to lead to more poverty unless corrective measures are introduced at both social, political and economic levels (Moore, Redd, Burkhauser, Mbwana, and Collins, 2002, p. 42). Many governments through international cooperation and private organizations have set measures such as the millennium development goals and sustainable development goals that seek to bridge between the poor and the rich across the globe (Unicef, 2000, p. 20). Poverty is a significant cause of unsustainable development, and there are different measures in place to eradicate poverty in areas such as Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe nations that are worst affected by the scourge of poverty (Unicef, 2000, p. 20). One of the major approaches of eradicating poverty is allocating more resources and education towards early childhood development which can help developing nations to overcome cyclic poverty through social capital development. The following are impacts of poverty on early childhood development;

Poverty is a Source of Long-term Disadvantages to Children

            Children that are in most needs of early education and care services continue to be less likely to attend high – quality programmes according to The Sutton Trust (2012). Children from poor communities and families are not able to acquire the necessary resources and facilities for optimal growth such as protection, nutrition, and education. As a result, early childhood education and care have gradually been seen as an interventionist service; this is done for the efforts of combating early disadvantage which is experienced by children and families. Due to poverty, some children can acquire the necessary development nutrition and healthcare whereas those in poor communities do not get such privileges which result in future disadvantages such as property ownership, education, marriage and economic participation in the community. Although the UNICEF has been instrumental in the increased interest paid to early childhood education and care, the economic argument has been instrumental in the increased investment in the sector (Unicef, 2000, p. 3). This shows that early childhood is not only a right but also an opportunity for long term independence and economic growth. Nations are investing in early childhood development as a means to fight generational poverty which has been detrimental to economic development in countries in Asia, Eastern Europe and African continents (Unicef, 2000, p. 20). This does not mean that poverty and poor early childhood development do not exist in developed nations, but the continents as mentioned earlier are the most affected by child poverty.

For many families who come from poor households, they are not able to provide for their children basic needs such as food and shelter which exposes them to many disadvantaged situations. In education which has been identified as a significant requirement in the war against poverty, many children perform poorly due to the lack of the right development simulation and learning materials that children in well off families can access (Richter, Daelmans, Lombardi, Heymann, Boo, Behrman…..2017, p. 106). Besides, schools in poor neighborhoods lack the resources and facilities to facilitate proper learning which makes them perform poorly and become unable to join promising colleges where most turns to crime and manual jobs causing a continuation of generational poverty. Therefore, in terms of education, children from low-income families are highly disadvantaged in the acquisition of the recommended childhood education opportunities and environment for learning.

Research has found out that children from low-income families are more likely to have poor health and emotional development (Jukes, 2005, p. 193). In health, the children are disadvantaged due to low birth weight and lack of access to necessary vaccinations and growth diet required for optimum development. The lack of routine preventive care and poor nutrition makes children from poor backgrounds susceptible to disease which impair them in many other areas such as active participation in games and sports as well as employment to earn a decent livelihood in the future because some diseases result in disabilities which impair their growth economically (Hurley, Yousafzai, and Lopez-Boo, 2016, p. 358). In terms of emotional development, children from low-income families are exposed to a stressful environment that makes it difficult for children to develop normal emotions. Children from low-income families are associated with disobedience and being highly impulsive which makes it challenging to create potential social networking that can help in holistic development and companionships (Hayes, 2008, p. 13). Therefore, poverty can lead to behavioral problems which increases the potential of the children growing up in low-income families being incarcerated at one point in their life.

Global Perspective towards Poverty

Globalization has changed the international outlook on poverty with the continued diminishing of national boundaries due to the advancement of technology that makes it easy for people to travel across the world (Maggi, Irwin, Siddiqi, Poureslami, Hertzman, and Hertzman, 2006, p. 26). From a global perspective, poverty is viewed as a source of inequality in societies and a threat to sustainable development. Actions and decisions in one part of the world today have a significant impact on the other parts of the world like the recent instability of North Africa which has led to increase of the number of immigrants crossing the Atlantic ocean to Europe (Papatheodorou and Wilson, 2016). As a result, many have died on the sea while the burden of taking care of the immigrants most of which do not have any education has increased pressure on many European nations. In response, the international organizations such as UNICEF, World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund have come in at the international level to pool together help for the underdeveloped countries from the private sector as well as developed nations which contribute a large amount of donations towards improving food security and initiating development projects in the developing countries.

Approaches of Combating International Poverty to Improve Early Childhood Development

Sustainable development goals: The United Nations millennium development goals has played a significant role in the eradication of poverty which is going to ease the overall negative impact of poverty on early childhood development (Caliari, 2014. p. 4). The sustainable development goals are vital in improving early childhood development by overcoming poverty, encouraging universal primary education, empowering women, combating diseases such as malaria which mainly affect children, reducing child mortality, promoting environmental sustainability and strengthening global cooperation in development (Caliari, 2014. p. 18). The United Nation’s MDGs can significantly improve early childhood development globally by combating poverty, disease and increasing availability of primary education to all children.

World Bank and International Monetary Fund resources drive: The World Bank and the IMF are rallying resources from the developed countries which is aimed at combating poverty in the developing countries through low interest loans that go towards building infrastructure and agricultural programs that are aimed at reducing the overall poverty by instigating economic development which is critical in increasing opportunities for the poor and alleviating food insecurity (El-Kogali, Krafft, Abdelkhalek, Benkassmi, Chavez, Bassett, and Ejjanoui, 2016).  As such, World Bank and IMF financial resources can eliminate poverty in the developing countries which will be vital in improving early childhood development such as increased access to education, nutrition and health by empowering poor communities (Caliari, 2014. p. 5).

Early childhood development: Early childhood education is identified as a primary buffer of poverty and disadvantage in the long-term by enabling children to develop proper mental faculties and skills that are key in promoting future financial viability and increasing employment opportunities (Magnuson, 2013, p. 1). Early childhood education is key to increasing social mobility in a poor society which improves the capacity of the children economically and can be an effective means of ending generational poverty. Poverty has been known to deny children their rights through exploitation and also the removal of a much required protective environment (Hayes, 2008, p. 13). Investing in children right to education, nutrition, health, and cognitive development has been identified by UNICEF as a significant approach to end childhood poverty (Magnuson, 2013, p. 6). Investing in children through education and healthcare has substantial economic returns to emerging countries by increasing the overall economic potential through social mobility and cognitive development. Investing in early childhood development has been a critical approach for developing countries to fight generational poverty due to its various economic benefits in the long-term (Magnuson, 2013, p. 3). For instance, when a nation invests in ensuring children have access to the right nutrition and health when growing up is a strategic approach that can be used to eliminate future high cost of health and increase the capacity of children to become productive in the future which is highly beneficial to the long-term development of the economy and eradication of generational poverty.

Malnutrition Impact on Early Childhood Development

Malnutrition refers to a state of eating a nutrient deficient diet in which the nutritional content of food is very high or very low (Unicef, 2000, p. 34). Malnutrition is a significant cause of health problems especially developmental problems in children which involves lack of or an excess of calories, carbohydrates, minerals, protein or vitamins (Martins, Florencio, Grillo, Do Carmo, Martins….2011, p. 1817). Due to poverty and lack of knowledge, undernutrition is significant malnutrition that affects early childhood development in the developing countries. Globally, 900 million people are affected by undernutrition which has been associated with the high mortality rate and long-term physiologic problems in children. Children who have experienced malnutrition are more likely to be susceptible to obesity, insulin resistance in adulthood and reduced capacity to work where manual labor is required. Malnutrition primary problem in early childhood development is lack of the necessary development nutrients which exposes children to diseases causing a high mortality rate and physical disabilities as the children grow (Unicef, 2000, p. 34). Children require sufficient and balanced diet to develop cognitive skills as well as proper body function which is profoundly affected by malnutrition (Woldehanna, Behrman, and Araya, 2017, p. 77). .Therefore, malnutrition hampers the ability of caregivers to provide their children with the required nutrients which affect their growth and development in the long-term. Malnutrition has been found to affect not only the growth and health of the children but also emotional and psychosocial development.

Malnutrition is not only having fewer calories than required in meals but also excessive calories. One of the negative impacts of excessive calories in children development is obesity which has been linked to cardiovascular diseases (Victora et al., 2008, P. 348). Obesity is a significant problem in developed countries such as the United States where children consumption to high calories is exposing them to adverse medical issues such as diabetes and hypertension (Puhl and Heuer, 2010, p. 1019). Besides, emotionally, children who are overweight have very low self-esteem which leads to social isolation, depression, eating disorders and disturbed social image of the children amongst their peers. Social stigmatization due to obesity in children has been associated with poor education performance and when inappropriate methods are used to overcome such a problem for instance through diet restriction can further harm the health of the children (Mustillo, Budd, and Hendrix, 2013, p. 268). Children who are socially stigmatized due to being overweight.

Malnutrition has been associated with impaired growth in children which is a significant problem by causing long term developmental and behavioral problems. Children can be able to reach their recommended growth potential when they are provided with the necessary nutrients (Ross and Anderson, 2010, p. 12). Due to malnutrition, children become stunted which is a deviation from the recommended World Health Organization standard. Infants need an adequate nutritional diet to be able to support the rapid growth and development failure to which the child may suffer from frequent infection during early developmental stages (Rodríguez, Cervantes, and Ortiz, 2011, p. 1174). In most communities, stunted growth due to malnutrition goes unnoticed, especially where people of short stature are ordinary which may be deemed as usual by the community members.

In developing countries where food security is a significant problem, malnutrition becomes a substantial concern in childhood development and growth. In most health systems, stunted growth is not given considerable attention compared to issues such as underweight or low weight which makes it a major unrecognized problem that has far-reaching adverse effects on childhood development. In Africa, stunted growth is the highest with 40%, but Asia is the highest affected by stunted children with 112 million children (Dewey and Begum, 2011, p. 7). In a lifetime, stunted growth has been associated with short adult height as well as poor function later in life which shows the need to combat the problem of malnutrition in the world. Learning capacity and survival are very low for the children affected by malnutrition, and the prevention of malnutrition should be a priority to improve social mobility especially in the developing countries (Dewey and Begum, 2011, p. 8). The long term educational consequences of child stunting which affected children development include factors such as functional damage of the brain, delayed cognitive functions development and potential permanent cognitive impairments (Woldehanna, Behrman, and Araya, 2017, p. 78). The stunted impacts of undernutrition begin during the maternal period and understanding this trajectory is essential in developing preventive measures which should begin during pregnancy by ensuring pregnant women have sufficient access to a balanced diet (Dewey and Begum, 2011, p. 12).

Global Aspect of Malnutrition

Civil wars, poverty, and drought have been found as global contributors of malnutrition due to the resulting food insecurity and monotonous diets (Young, 2016, p. 6). Different climates in the world favor the production of different types of food and the overdependence and monopoly of a single or two crops in some countries is a significant cause of malnutrition especially in Asia and Africa (Young, 2016, p. 13). Globalization can play a significant role in combating malnutrition by making it possible for African and Asian countries to access crop breeds that can do well in extreme low or high temperatures and fluctuating humidity which makes it possible to achieve food security (Friel, Chopra, and Hawkes, 2009, p. 257). Besides, trade of food products due to overproduction in some countries makes globalization a dominant approach and aspect of malnutrition.

Potential Solutions for Malnutrition to Eliminate Negative Impacts on Children Development

Nutrition education: Most parents are not aware of the right diet for their children which been associated with high malnutrition where children are not given a balanced diet necessary for their rapid growth and development (Pepino, 2014, p. 3). Educating parents and communities on the need for a balanced diet can significantly improve the nurture environment and nutrition required for optimum child development. FAO has argued that maternal and child nutrition education is critical towards achieving high health outcomes in the developing countries where many communities are not aware of the importance of proper maternal and child nutrition to the overall long term child growth and development (Pepino, 2014, p. 9). Many countries have realized that maternal nutrition is essential which have initiated maternal nutritional guides and education to improve the overall health of a nation (Victora, Adair, Fall, Hallal, Martorell….. 2008, P. 340).

Improving food production and trade: Food insecurity in the sub-Saharan African and Southern Asia is a significant challenge towards eradicating malnutrition and improving global children health. As such, global organizations such as World Bank and International Monetary Fund are increasingly investing in agricultural production projects such as building of dams for irrigation and infrastructure to promote trade which increases access to different food products as a means of overcoming malnutrition and famine in the developing countries due to the prolonged dry periods and short rains being caused by climate change (Caliari, 2014. p. 21). Governments are combating malnutrition amongst children by introducing school-based feeding programs and including mineral supplements in food products to counter the negative developmental impacts of malnutrition on children (Bundy, Shaeffer, Jukes, Beegle, Gillespie…..2006, p. 1091).

Conclusion

Both poverty and malnutrition are significant hindrances to proper children development which has different adverse impacts on the overall well-being of children and adults. Poverty reduces the ability of families to access the necessary basic needs such as food and shelter which exposes children to many developmental problems in both health and education resulting in generational poverty in many poor communities. There has been an increase in global efforts to reduce poverty and malnutrition in the world through international organizations such as the World Health Organization and UNICEF which have also invested in assessing the impacts of poverty and malnutrition in child development to improve targeted efforts such as economic stimulation through development projects and irrigation projects aimed at improving food security in countries that are suffering from perennial droughts which have a high cases of malnutrition and poverty which hampers proper childhood development. Millennium development goals have been vital in combating poverty using a multidimensional approach that also fights malnutrition through improved food security. Therefore, it is essential for the children to be provided with a nurturing environment during their early years of development because at this time the kind of environment that a child will be exposed to will affect their overall future health and mental capacity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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