Children in the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu face a unique threat that should be a wake-up call to other countries across the world.
By the time they are adults, their country will no longer exist – the nine sandy atolls that make up Tuvalu will be swallowed by rapidly rising sea levels as a result of climate change. Telethon Kids Institute researchers have helped identify the key health and developmental challenges facing the country’s children, with the hope of paving the way for an easier transition when they must inevitably leave their island home behind.
Tuvalu – the world’s fourth smallest nation – is classified as a ‘threatened state’ as the ocean that surrounds it continues to consume it.
The series of thin islands in the vast Pacific Ocean are home to a population of 11,000 people with a rich culture and history, but isolation and lack of resources means child development has fallen well below the benchmark.
Professor Sally Brinkman and her team were asked by the Tuvalu Government and the World Bank to examine the status of child development across the nine islands of the country. They used the early Human Capability Index (eHCI), an easy-to-use survey instrument developed by Professor Brinkman and then adapted to local culture and context.
In 2015, the Tuvaluan eHCI was used to assess every single three- to five-year-old child across Tuvalu – no easy feat given the islands can only be navigated by boat, with some islands harder to reach than others.
Despite the access challenges, Professor Brinkman estimates around 90 per cent – or just under 600 kids – were assessed. The results were confronting. Children in Tuvalu showed high rates of ‘stunting’ – meaning they are smaller than expected for their age. The condition has a strong link to poor cognitive development.
Professor Brinkman said poor nutrition was likely to blame, with the sandy islands wholly unsuited to growing fresh nutrient rich food and climate change making agriculture almost impossible.
“It’s not just the lack of variation in the diet or the lack of fresh food, in some cases there’s just not enough food and that’s stunting the growth of these kids,” she said.
“Worms are also endemic in Tuvalu as well as diarrhoea because there are lots of issues with sanitation. There is nowhere for the waste to go other than into the sea, and of course children spend a lot of time in the water. So, there are a lot of factors contributing to poor physical growth.”
The team found this poor growth also translated to other areas of child development. The results were delivered directly to the country’s Prime Minister, who took immediate action – allocating International Development Assistance funds from the World Bank.
“Generally, countries choose to spend that money on roads or electricity and infrastructure,” Professor Brinkman said. “Very rarely does it go to so-called human capital, but on the basis of these results, Tuvalu decided they wanted that money to go into early childhood development initiatives.”
Tuvalu’s future is written. The rising sea levels cannot be reversed, so it is a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’ the islands sink into the Pacific Ocean.
But Professor Brinkman said the future of its people – those children – is far from set in stone.
“The kids in Tuvalu are the future,” she said.
“But if they can enhance the health, development and early education of their kids so that they’re better able to read and solve problems, then at least they’re better equipped to navigate the world beyond Tuvalu.”
Evaluating early childhood education in the villages of Northern Laos
Northern Laos is a challenging place to run an education system. The mountainous region is made up of dozens of different ethnic groups, speaking more than 100 different languages and dialects. Access is difficult and during the monsoon season remote areas can be completely inaccessible.
The Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) is committed to improving access to quality education. To help with this the World Bank financed a project to improve the country’s early childhood education system and promote the development of children living in disadvantaged villages.
Professor Sally Brinkman and her team conducted an impact evaluation to understand the benefits of delivering different models of early childhood education across almost 400 villages throughout the poorest regions of Northern Lao PDR.
The focus was on comparing two main types of early education: community-based playgroup sessions for children aged 3 and 4, run by a local caregiver in a purpose-built hut; and a more formal pre-school setting which welcomed 3- and 4-year-olds into existing 5-year-old preschool classes, run by a trained teacher.
Evaluation results showed improved access to early childhood education, resulting in a dramatic increase in attendance. Before the project, fewer than 25 per cent of children had attended early education – a figure which increased to 80 per cent as a result of the project.
Both types of early education were found to have benefits for the children’s early development, however it was the sessions run by the community, outside of the formal education system, which showed greater improvements in a range of different areas.
“Since the project started, we’ve seen policy shifts within the government to try and bring early education underneath the Education Act,” Professor Brinkman said.
The Government of Lao PDR has now made further investment into both playgroup and formal preschool early education programs to ensure their sustainability in future.
