IDB funds UWI study on parent, child well-being

The University of the West Indies, Mona, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have signed a letter of agreement for a Japan Funds-in-Trust IDB/UWI Child Cohort Study.

Under the agreement, the Japanese government, through the IDB, will provide funding in the sum of US$500,000 for a comprehensive exploration of child health and development in Jamaica, beginning February next year.

Pro-vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UWI, Mona campus, Professor Gordon Shirley, signed the letter on behalf of the UWI, Mona and acting representative of the IDB, Julian Belgrave signed on behalf of his institution during a brief ceremony held at Shirley's office recently.

The main purpose of JA Kids: The Jamaican Birth Cohort Study 2011 is to collect primary, longitudinal data on the overall physical and emotional well-being of parents and children aged zero - two years in Jamaica. Participants will be recruited at 28 weeks of pregnancy during the three-month period of February to April 2011.

Randomly selected

Subsequently, contact will be made with parents and their children at birth, six months, 12 months, 18 months and 24 months. At each contact, participants will be asked questions about their health and well-being, their child's growth and development, the child's environment, nutrition and parental practices. A randomly selected focus group of 2,000 children will receive more detailed developmental and behavioural assessments and evaluations.

The goal of the study is to improve the health and well-being of Jamaica's children by providing valuable data on the relationships among a wide range of family, school, community, and individual variables. It will also contribute to an understanding of the various factors that influence health, disease and social and emotional development in young children. The identification of these factors will enable Jamaica to build on its existing strengths and to target interventions to mitigate risks in populations where they are identified.

Valuable information

Probably most important, findings from the JA Kids study will benefit Jamaica by providing the health, education, social and academic sectors with information from which to develop national policies and programmes to ensure the best possible outcomes for our children and families.

Providing background to the project, lead researcher, Professor Maureen Samms-Vaughan explained that the JA Kids project came in the wake of earlier studies conducted between 1986 and 2003, when the UWI, Mona and the Ministry of Health had collaborated on a series of Birth Cohort Studies in Jamaica. The Jamaica Perinatal Morbidity and Mortality Survey was a national study designed to identify modifiable risk factors associated with poor maternal and perinatal outcome. Follow-up studies of this 1986 birth cohort were conducted at ages 11-12, 15-16 and 20-21 years to better understand the factors that impact child development, behaviour and academic achievement in Jamaica's children.

She noted that, to date, these studies have been the only comprehensive longitudinal birth cohort study of children in the Caribbean and have had significant impact on various policies, programmes and interventions for children.

No detailed data

However, despite their successes, these studies were undertaken prior to the explosion in knowledge on the early years and therefore did not collect detailed data on children in the cohort of zero to two years and their family/supportive environments

Belgrave noted that Jamaica, as a middle-income country, was considered too well off to have access to grant resources, so he expressed special appreciation to the people and Government of Japan for supporting the initiative through their Trust Fund, which is managed by the bank.

Japanese Ambassador to Jamaica Hiroshi Yamaguchi noted that the study was closely linked to the target of ensuring human security which was an important pillar of Japan's official development assistance to developing countries. He added that the Child Cohort Study to be conducted on the important post-birth age-group of zero to two-year-old babies would generate key tools that will be needed to monitor and evaluate Jamaica's National Strategy, thus delivering policy decisions and improving the targeting of specialised intervention to the vulnerable and/or marginalised children.

In response, Shirley welcomed the new Birth Cohort Study, with its focus on the impact of early childhood on national development, the impact of parenting and fathering on development and early interventions, along with the emphasis on maternal health and well-being. He said the study would also be used as a mechanism for training and would further understanding of the factors that help children develop, survive and become globally competitive.