Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Apr 30;399(10336):1741-1752.
doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02716-1. Epub 2022 Apr 27.

Effects of early-life poverty on health and human capital in children and adolescents: analyses of national surveys and birth cohort studies in LMICs

Cesar G Victora  1 , Fernando P Hartwig  2 , Luis P Vidaletti  3 , Reynaldo Martorell  4 , Clive Osmond  5 , Linda M Richter  6 , Aryeh D Stein  7 , Aluisio J D Barros  3 , Linda S Adair  8 , Fernando C Barros  9 , Santosh K Bhargava  10 , Bernardo L Horta  2 , Maria F Kroker-Lobos  11 , Nanette R Lee  12 , Ana Maria B Menezes  2 , Joseph Murray  13 , Shane A Norris  14 , Harshpal S Sachdev  15 , Alan Stein  16 , Jithin S Varghese  17 , Zulfiqar A Bhutta  18 , Robert E Black  19
Affiliations
Review

Effects of early-life poverty on health and human capital in children and adolescents: analyses of national surveys and birth cohort studies in LMICs

Cesar G Victora et al. Lancet. .

Abstract

The survival and nutrition of children and, to a lesser extent, adolescents have improved substantially in the past two decades. Improvements have been linked to the delivery of effective biomedical, behavioural, and environmental interventions; however, large disparities exist between and within countries. Using data from 95 national surveys in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), we analyse how strongly the health, nutrition, and cognitive development of children and adolescents are related to early-life poverty. Additionally, using data from six large, long-running birth cohorts in LMICs, we show how early-life poverty can have a lasting effect on health and human capital throughout the life course. We emphasise the importance of implementing multisectoral anti-poverty policies and programmes to complement specific health and nutrition interventions delivered at an individual level, particularly at a time when COVID-19 continues to disrupt economic, health, and educational gains achieved in the recent past.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests REB serves on the Board of Vitamin Angels, a non-profit charitable organisation supporting maternal and child nutrition services in LMICs. AS and ADS report grants from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. AS reports grants from the Wellcome Trust. ZAB reports grants from the International Development Research Centre (reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health in conflict settings: case studies to inform implementation of interventions) and Countdown to 2030–UNICEF. All other authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Child and adolescent indicators according to wealth deciles by world region Data taken from 95 national surveys performed between 2010 and 2019. Indicators include mortality rate (A) and prevalence of growth stunting (B) in children younger than 5 years, not-on-track development in children aged 36–59 months (C), teenage motherhood in women aged 20–29 years who had become mothers before age 20 years (D), and incomplete primary schooling among girls aged 15–19 years (E). Wealth by decile is presented in decreasing order from decile 10, representing the wealthiest decile, to decile 1, representing the poorest.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Associations between women's empowerment and child indicators in the ten most populous countries with available data Indicators include the mortality rate (A) and prevalence of growth stunting (B) in children younger than 5 years.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of adult indicators by wealth quintile in the six birth cohorts Indicators include height (A), attained schooling (B), and intelligence quotients (C) in adulthood in both men and women. Wealth by quintile is presented in increasing order from quintile 1, representing the poorest quintile, to quintile 5, representing the richest.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Sen A. Oxford University Press; Oxford, UK: 1999. Development as Freedom.
    1. World Bank Inequality and shared prosperity. 2019. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/isp/overview
    1. Wadhwa D. The World Bank; Washington, DC: 2018. The number of extremely poor people continues to rise in sub-Saharan Africa.
    1. Hasell J. Is income inequality rising around the world? Nov 23, 2018. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/is-income-inequality-rising-aroun...
    1. UN . United Nations; New York, NY: 2015. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.