First 1,000 days of your life determines how much money you will make for the rest of it: research
“The first 1000 days of a child’s life are clear predictors of future earnings, health status, whether he will contract diabetes or heart disease and how many years of school he will complete”, says Wits University professor Linda Richter.
Speaking to Times Live, Richter noted that new research conducted by Lancet found that children with insufficient development by the age of two will earn 26% less than other adults, regardless of what happens after the age of two.
Government would be better off spending Education money on this early stage, rather than investing huge amounts of money and effort in primary, high school and university education, Richter said.
She further estimates that stunting and malnutrition, which caused poor brain development, cost South Africa R62-billion annually.
“When a child is born it has 100 billion brain cells, as many stars as there are in the universe.” But at age two the brain trims the connections.
“The trillions of connections drive memory, learning and behaviour. We lose what isn’t used early. If the brain fails to receive appropriate experiences during these first critical years before the age of three, the brain structure and function will be impaired.”
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