Childhood Development and Health

Xileen

04/13/24 • 42 Views • 0 Share • Published in News & Politics Print

The Environment We Create Shapes the Foundations of Healthy Development

04/12/2024 - Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University - developingchild.harvard.edu

Join us for a webinar!

Extreme Heat & Early Childhood Development:

A Discussion on Rising Temperatures and Strategies for Supporting Development and Lifelong Health

April 25, 2024: 1-2PM ET

Excessive heat can impact development and health beginning before birth, both in the moment and across the lifespan. Join us for a conversation on the specific impacts of heat on children and their caregivers. We’ll explore strategies to reduce exposure to heat to support children’s healthy development and well-being and ensure all children have access to safe places to grow, learn, and play in our changing climate.

The Center’s Chief Science Officer, Lindsey Burghardt, MD, MPH, FAAP, will be joined by panelists from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, and Gaurab Basu, MD, MPH. They’ll bring the latest research and insights from the field to discuss the intersection of heat and health equity and discuss actionable solutions to benefit children, caregivers, and communities now and in the future.

Earth Day 2024
Supporting Early Development in a Changing Climate

We know that the environmental conditions that surround young children shape their development and lifelong health. As the climate continues to change, children's developmental environments - including the temperatures they are exposed to, their ability to access clean water, and the quality of the air they breathe - are changing too, and these effects are not equally experienced across communities. This month, we're sharing resources related to the many ways that the conditions of a child's environment shape their development and lifelong health, as well as strategies for improving those conditions.

Examining children's developmental environments in a changing climate

The Early Childhood Scientific Council on Equity and the Environment (ECSCEE) is committed to improving our understanding of how influences from the broader environment affect early childhood development. Through their work, the ECSCEE aims to leverage both science and community-informed perspectives to shed light on ways that we can improve children’s developmental environments to support healthy development.

This past January, the ECSCEE released its first paper: Extreme Heat Affects Early Childhood Development and Health. Recognizing that temperatures are rising around the world, this paper details how extreme heat affects infants and young children more than most adults, as well as ways that policymakers and community leaders can reduce children's exposure to extreme heat. As noted above, our upcoming webinar will draw on key insights from the paper and explore potential solutions.

Read the Paper Here

To find actionable examples of communities reducing the effects of extreme heat on children, read the accompanying action guide.

Place Matters: The Environment We Create Shapes the Foundations of Healthy Development

Working Paper 16 by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child examines how a wide range of environmental conditions in the places where children live, grow, learn, and play can get “under the skin” and affect their developing brains and other biological systems. Learn more about why #PlaceMatters for early development and strategies for policymakers to improve conditions in children's developmental environments in Working Paper 16 as well as the accompanying action guide and infographic.

Read the Paper Here

Read the action guide here & infographic here.

A Healthy Childhood in a Changing Climate | Askwith Education Forum

Check out this conversation hosted by the Askwith Education Forum at the Harvard Graduate School of Education featuring a panel of experts including our Chief Science Officer, Dr. Lindsey Burghardt, and moderated by Chelsea Clinton. In this conversation, the panelists discuss the impacts of the changing climate on early development and outline actions we can take to respond to, mitigate, and lessen its threat and ensure all children get a healthy start.

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