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Scaling up Effective and Cost-effective Early Childhood Interventions in LMICs: Evidence from 7 country contexts

Thu, March 23, 11:45am to 1:15pm, Salt Palace Convention Center, Floor: 1, Grand Ballroom E

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Parenting interventions that integrate nutrition and stimulation practices can improve short-term early childhood development (ECD) outcomes for the 43% of children under age five in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) who otherwise are predicted not to reach their full developmental potential (Black et al., 2017). However, most LMICs lack resources to implement public health programs, and few evidence-based ECD programs have been delivered at-scale. Four crucial elements to scaling ECD programs include: political prioritization, supportive policy environments, the use of existing infrastructure and human capital, and affordability (Richter et al. 2017).

This proposed symposium aims to shed light on these key elements of scalability, with presentations from four ECD programs that are either already being scaled-up by local Governments or that propose more cost-effective strategies to maximize the scalability potential of programs across seven LMICs. Three programs (One in Bangladesh, the Playful Parenting program implemented in Bhutan, Rwanda, Serbia, and Zambia, and the MAHAY Mikolo program in Madagascar) are already being scaled-up and integrated into public health programs and can offer valuable lessons about how to engage Governments in scaling efforts. The Kenya program offers new strategies for designing solutions that minimize costs while remaining effective in low-resource and rural settings, utilizing existing health services and personnel. Similarities and differences in strategies to scale ECD programs in LMICs across the four projects will enlighten the discussion of how to design interventions that have the potential to be implemented at scale in low- and middle-income settings.

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