early childhood

UNICEF UK has undertaken new analysis which demonstrates that where children grow up has a significant impact on their early outcomes, with inequalities in health and developmental outcomes entrenched in the first few years of life. Key findings include:

Every Local Authority in the top 20% for deprivation is in the bottom 20% for multiple measures of child health and development.
The most deprived quintile of LAs are more than twice as far away from meeting the Government’s target for 75% children to reach a good level of development than the most affluent areas.
Five-year-olds in the most deprived LAs are three times more likely to have teeth removed due to decay than those in the most affluent areas.
Obesity rates for five-year-olds are twice as high in the most deprived areas than in the most affluent areas.
Babies and young children in the most deprived areas have 55% more visits to A&E than those in the least deprived areas.

While the school-based measures the Government has announced are welcome, this analysis demonstrates that inequalities are already well established by the age of five. Ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review, UNICEF UK is therefore calling on the Government to urgently address the links between deprivation, poverty and developmental outcomes within the earliest years by:

Removing the two-child limit and benefit cap
Restoring investment in essential early childhood health and support services

The Institute of Health Visiting is delighted to see that the second recommendation includes a call on the Government to increase investment in health visiting. This includes adding their weight of support to the iHV policy recommendation to rebuild the health visiting workforce by recruiting an additional 1,000 health visitors a year over the spending review period. Health visiting is highlighted throughout the report as a crucial service which has an important role to play for all babies and young children, but which can be particularly valuable for babies and families experiencing poverty, as provision can help mitigate against the impact of poverty on early outcomes. We are delighted that UNICEF references our iHV State of Health Visiting reports in this new report.

Read UNICEK UK report - Held back from the start: the impact of deprivation on early childhood

See UNICEF UK Deprivation Heat Maps

The iHV was honoured to be asked to present the keynote address at the UNICEF/ WHO/ ISSA launch of their early childhood initiative at a webinar held on 14 October 2022. This international initiative is being supported by numerous nations across Europe and Asia that recognise the important contributions of health visitors and home visiting to improving child outcomes and reducing inequalities.

We have recently been provided with the link to the webinar, so you can now watch and listen to Alison Morton’s presentation at the online event, ‘Harnessing the Power of Home Visiting’. Alison’s 15-minute presentation starts at approximately 19:30 into the webinar.

Background to the webinar: In 2021, UNICEF ECARO, WHO Regional Office for Europe, and the International Step by Step Association (ISSA) joined efforts to launch Health Systems for Early Child Development initiative. This initiative is to accelerate efforts in Europe and Central Asia to build more “developmentally oriented” and family-centered health systems and services empowering caregivers to provide children with nurturing care – a safe and enabling environment that ensures good health and nutrition, protects them from threats, offers opportunities for early learning and encourages responsive and emotionally supportive interactions with parents and caregivers.