Role of Pediatricians, Pediatric Associations, and Academic Departments in Ensuring Optimal Early Childhood Development Globally: Position Paper of the International Pediatric Association.
Abstract
<h4>Abstract</h4>Early childhood (birth-8 years), particularly the first 3 years,
is the most critical time in development because of the highly sensitive developing
brain. Providing appropriate developmental care (i.e., nurturing care, as defined
by the World Health Organization [WHO]) during early childhood is key to ensuring
a child's holistic development. Pediatricians are expected to play a critical role
in supporting early childhood development (ECD) through providing developmental services
such as developmental monitoring, anticipatory guidance, screening, and referral to
medical and/or community-based services when delay is identified. Pediatricians are
also expected to serve as advocates within their clinics and communities for improved
delivery of ECD services, such as advocating for increasing funding for ECD initiatives,
increasing insurance coverage of ECD services, and working to increase other pediatricians'
awareness of the principles of ECD and how to deliver developmental services. However,
this does not always occur. Typically, pediatricians' training and practice emphasizes
treating disease rather than enhancing ECD. Pediatricians are further hindered by
a lack of uniformity across nations in guidelines for developmental monitoring and
screening. In this article, we present the vision of the International Pediatric Association
(IPA) of the roles that pediatricians, academic departments, medical training programs,
and pediatric associations should fulfill to help support ECD, including raising ECD
to higher levels of priority in routine pediatric care. First, we present the challenges
that face these goals in supporting ECD. We then propose, with supportive literature,
strategies and resources to overcome these challenges in collaboration with local
and international stakeholders, including the IPA, the WHO, UNICEF, and the World
Bank.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/25646Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1097/dbp.0000000000001112Publication Info
Uchitel, Julie; Alden, Errol; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A; Cavallera, Vanessa; Lucas, Jane;
Oberklaid, Frank; ... Mikati, Mohamad A (2022). Role of Pediatricians, Pediatric Associations, and Academic Departments in Ensuring
Optimal Early Childhood Development Globally: Position Paper of the International
Pediatric Association. Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBP, Publish Ahead of Print. 10.1097/dbp.0000000000001112. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/25646.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Mohamad Abdul Mikati
Wilburt C. Davison Distinguished Professor
Mohamad A. Mikati M.D., is the Wilburt C. Davison Professor of Pediatrics, Professor
of Neurobiology, and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Neurology. Dr. Mikati’s clinical
research has centered on characterization and therapy of pediatric epilepsy and neurology
syndromes, describing several new pediatric neurological entities with two carrying
his name (POSSUM syndromes # 3708 and 4468), developing novel therapeutic strategies
for epilepsy and related disorders par

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