Early childhood, inequalities and rights in Latin America and the Caribbean

Publication type

Challenges Newsletter

Description

A focus on early childhood is crucial for any inclusive social development strategy. Notwithstanding legislative and scientific progress and new child-oriented social agendas and policies, children aged between 0 and 8 continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty and vulnerability. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic exacerbated inequalities and has created urgent new needs in what was already a vulnerable context for a population that is at a developmentally critical stage of life. The consequences for the economy, care and education services, food insecurity, maternal mortality and immunization rates have had a direct impact on their well-being. Nearly four years on from the first case of COVID-19 in the region, it is vital to focus efforts on comprehensive early childhood development. This is an important and urgent agenda. Its importance lies in the fact that investment in this critical period of life is the best step that can be taken to prepare for a society’s future. The urgency derives from the risk that failure to act now may result in irreversible structural damage to the dynamics of intergenerational solidarity.

Number

25

Editorial commitee

Economic Commission for Latin America
and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF)

Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF LACRO)

Editorial committee
ECLAC:

Alberto Arenas de Mesa, Jorge Rodríguez and Daniela Trucco
UNICEF:
Maaike Arts, Liliana Carvajal, Yannig Dussart and Patricia Núñez
General coordination:
Daniela Huneeus, Raquel Santos Garcia and Daniela Trucco
Contributors:
Raquel Santos Garcia, Diana Hernández, Laura-Line Verguts and Patricia Núñez

Challenges
Issue 25, december 2023
ISSN electronic version 1816-7535

© United Nations, December 2023
All rights reserved

Contact:
uniceflac@unicef.org

See bulletin on the ECLAC publications website

See bulletin in the ECLAC Digital Repository

Permission groups

Related publication(s)

13 August 2020 | Publication

Education in the time of COVID-19

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused an unprecedented crisis in all areas. In the field of education, this emergency has led to the massive closure of face-to-face activities of…

11 June 2020 | Publication

The COVID-19 pandemic could increase child labour in Latin America and the Caribbean. Technical Note N° 1

Currently the world is going through an unprecedented health, social, human and economic crisis due to the pandemic caused by the disease COVID-19. Even though in the current health crisis derived…

15 December 2020 | Publication

Violence against children and adolescents in the time of COVID-19

This document examines the exacerbation of risks and the erosion of protection factors relating to physical, psychological and sexual violence in the home experienced by adolescents and children,…

Color

c70039