Almost half of the children in Bangladesh—especially those under five years of age—cannot reach their full potential due to factors including poverty, malnutrition, and the lack of a stimulating environment.
Research, conducted by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), recently concluded this.
The research paper was unveiled at a seminar, titled "Paving the Road for Scaling-Up of an Early Childhood Development, Intervention through Integration into Health Services in Bangladesh, and Launching Ceremony of a Series of Publications on Early Childhood Development and Archives of Diseases in Childhood" in the capital on Tuesday (May 28).
The study also mentions that nearly 250 million children in developing countries cannot reach their full potential, for the above-mentioned risks.
Speakers said icddr,b developed a comprehensive curriculum of psychological stimulation, which was later tested upon underprivileged children to come up with the results.
Dr Jena Hamadani, Dr Fahmida Tofail, and Bidhan K Sarkar presented the research paper on early childhood development.
Sheikh Rafiqul Islam, additional secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, said that nearly all the children in our cities have suffered from malnutrition at some point of their lives.