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

• Published in: The Lancet (British edition) Vol. 399; no. 10336; pp. 1741 - 1752
• Main Authors: Victora, Cesar G, Hartwig, Fernando P, Vidaletti, Luis P, Martorell, Reynaldo, Osmond, Clive, Richter, Linda M, Stein, Aryeh D, Barros, Aluisio J D, Adair, Linda S, Barros, Fernando C, Bhargava, Santosh K, Horta, Bernardo L, Kroker-Lobos, Maria F, Lee, Nanette R, Menezes, Ana Maria B, Murray, Joseph, Norris, Shane A, Sachdev, Harshpal S, Stein, Alan, Varghese, Jithin S, Bhutta, Zulfiqar A, Black, Robert E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 30-04-2022; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adults; Birth Cohort; Births; Child; Child poverty; Children; Cognitive ability; Cognitive development; Cohort analysis; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; Developing Countries; Human capital; Humans; Income; Income distribution; Inequality; LDCs; Mortality; Nutrition; Polls & surveys; Poverty; Series; Socioeconomic factors; Sustainable development; Teenagers; Asia; Africa
• ISSN: 0140-6736; 1474-547X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02716-1

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.