The concept of nurturing care for young children was outlined in the 2017 Lancet series Advancing Early Childhood Development: From Science to Scale and developed into a framework by WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank collaborating with a large number of academics and representatives of civil society. The Nurturing Care Framework was launched during the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May 2018, together with a set of 91 country profiles populated by data in a blueprint of the Framework. Nurturing Care consists of two sets of responses to perceived threats to young children’s development – enabling environments of policies, services and community supports that assist families to ensure the health, good nutrition, security and safety and opportunities for learning for their young children in the context of responsive relationships. The perceived value of the Nurturing Care profiles prompted the formation of an Early Childhood Development Technical Working Group (ECDTWG) that is now formally affiliated with Countdown to 2030. UNICEF agreed to maintain, update and publish the profiles, online annually and in print every two years in collaboration with the ECDTWG. Updated profiles, extended to 138 countries, were launched at the Partnership for Maternal Newborn Child Health (PMNCH) Accountability Breakfast event, together with updated Equity profiles, on the 22 September 2019 during the United Nations General Assembly.
Access the early childhood development profiles.