Child Stimulation Intervention Fosters Early Child Development in Rural Peru

Children who are stimulated with age-adjusted toys at an early age perform better in categories such as fine motor skills, understanding time and space, or cognitive abilities. The community-randomised trial conducted by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and the Peruvian Instituto de Investigación Nutricional (IIN) is the first study to assess the impact of an early child development intervention on household level in rural Peru. The results are published today in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Scientists from Swiss TPH and IIN adapted for the first time the urban-based Peruvian National Early Child Development Programme (Wawa Wasi) and brought it to the doorstep of people living in the rural Cajamarca region. In a community-randomised trial they showed that children aged 6 to 35 months whose mothers playfully interacted with them for half an hour daily performed up to 23% better in categories such as expression of feeling and emotions, fine motor skills or verbal and non-verbal communication than the control group. «Our findings are important because we showed that the national programme also works in the rural and impoverished areas» says Claudio Lanata from IIN and co-author of the study. Possible Impact on Poverty Reduction - The findings contribute to the new Early Child Development Programme (Cuna Mas), which is especially tailored to the rural and impoverished regions.