RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Accountability for funds for Nurturing Care: what can we measure?
JF Archives of Disease in Childhood
JO Arch Dis Child
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
SP S34
OP S42
DO 10.1136/archdischild-2018-315429
VO 104
IS Suppl 1
A1 Leonardo Arregoces
A1 Rob Hughes
A1 Kate M Milner
A1 Victoria Ponce Hardy
A1 Cally Tann
A1 Arjun Upadhyay
A1 Joy E Lawn
YR 2019
UL http://adc.bmj.com/content/104/Suppl_1/S34.abstract
AB Background Understanding donor, government and out-of-pocket funding for early child development (ECD) is important for tracking progress. We aimed to estimate a baseline for the WHO, UNICEF and World Bank Nurturing Care Framework (NCF) with a special focus on childhood disability.Methods To estimate development assistance spending, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Creditor Reporting System (OECD-CRS) database was searched for 2007–2016, using key words derived from domains of the NCF (good health, nutrition and growth, responsive caregiving, security and safety, and early learning), plus disability. Associated funds were analysed by domain, donor, recipient and region. Trends of ECD/NCF were compared with reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) disbursements. To assess domestic or out-of-pocket expenditure for ECD, we searched electronic databases of indexed and grey literature.Results US$79.1 billion of development assistance were disbursed, mostly for health and nutrition (US$61.9 billion, 78% of total) and least for disability (US$0.7 billion, 2% of total). US$2.3 per child per year were disbursed for non-health ECD activities. Total development assistance for ECD increased by 121% between 2007 and 2016, an average increase of 8.3% annually. Per child disbursements increased more in Africa and Asia, while minimally in Latin America and the Caribbean and Oceania. We could not find comparable sources for domestic funding and out-of-pocket expenditure.Conclusions Estimated international donor disbursements for ECD remain small compared with RMNCH. Limitations include inconsistent donor terminology in OECD data. Increased investment will be required in the poorest countries and for childhood disability to ensure that progress is equitable.