Introduction

“Nurturing care in the early years ensures individuals and societies thrive.“ - Guiding message

Investing in early childhood development is essential to helping more children and communities thrive. The Lancet Series finds 249 million children under five are at risk of not reaching developmental potential, implementing low-cost interventions could reverse this trend.

The World Bank Group hosted a live-streamed global launch of the new Lancet Early Childhood Development Series on Oct 5th, 2016 at its annual summit of Economic Ministers who convened from around the world. The year’s theme is “Investing in Early Childhood”.

The 2017 Lancet Early Childhood Development Series highlights early childhood development at a time when it has been universally endorsed in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. This Series considers new scientific evidence for interventions, building on the findings and recommendations of previous Lancet Series on child development (2007, 2011), and proposes pathways for implementation of early childhood development at scale in order to reach and support more families. Ongoing commitment to early childhood development is essential to building stronger, healthier individuals and societies.