Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government

The National Heart Forum (2002: 4)expresses grave concern about ‘currenttrends and inequalities in diet, physicalactivity, obesity and smoking’ which are soserious as to be leading to ‘an epidemic ofcoronary heart disease, as well as stroke,cancer and diabetes in 40-50 years’ time’unless remedial action is taken now. Thismeans educating children to adopt ahealthy lifestyle from a very early age, aswell as taking action at national,local andfamily levels on the recommendations ofthe British Medical Association (BMA 1999)concerned with poverty, diet, exercise,smoking, drugs, and other measuresincluding improved access to ECEC.Protecting young children againstinfectious diseases through immunisationstargets one area that is responsible forinfant and childhood mortality (Kristensenet al 2002). Just under ten years agoinfectious diseases accounted for four percent of postnatal deaths in the UK in 1990,and for seven per cent of deaths ofchildren aged between one and four years.However, controversy about the ‘MMR’(measles, mumps, rubella) triple vaccinehas given rise to concern about childrenwho are not being immunised in 2002.While Christie (2002) claims experts havefound no links between the MMR vaccineand autism,there have been reports in thepopular and scientific press (See TheSunday Times 23 June 2002, and the BMJ,May 2002) that contradict one another onthe subject, and the debate continues.Travis (2002) reports the results of a surveyof 1003 parents in the UK which revealedthat three in every four parents surveyedwanted the government to provide ‘freeseparate measles, mumps and rubellavaccinations for their children amid risingconcerns about the combined MMRinjection’. (Guardian online 2002).(See Barrand Limb, 1997 for a review of medical,scientific and ethical issues relating tothe MMR vaccines).It is not possible to cover all the healthissues concerning young children in thistext and readers are directed to the reviewby the British Medical Association (BMA1999) and their recommendations.However, in this chapter we have tried toprovide an introduction to a number ofkey aspects of health in babies and youngchildren. Firstly, we explore researchevidence on brain development.YOUNG BRAINSIn the last twe nty- f i ve ye a r s, te c h n o l og i ca la dva n ces have enabled scient i f i cre s e a rchers to make new discove ries abo u tthe deve l o p m e nt of the human bra i n : i t sfo rm at i o n ,g rowth and cog n i t i ve act i v i ty,for example (see Nelson and Bl oom 1997 ).Howeve r, a number of re s e a rchers havea rgued that the ev i d e n ce should bere g a rded with some scepticism be ca u s esome of it is old, some from studies ofdiseased brains and some from studiesof rat s, rather than humans (Au b rey 2002;Bl a ke m o re 2002; Bruer 19 99 ).Meanwhile, Catherwood (1999) outlinedthese technological advances in thecontext of their relevance to108 EDUCATIONAND SKILLS B I RT H T O T H R E E M AT T E R S