74 Session 3
Symposia Advancing Comprehensive Early Childhood Intervention S3.05 Unlocking the Potential of Community Stakeholders to Facilitate Early Childhood Development in South Africa Symposium Organizer: Renata Eccles (South Africa) Affiliation : University of Pretoria In low- and middle-income countries, such as South Africa, approximately 250 million children are not reaching their developmental potential. The South African National Development Plan for 2030 proposes to improve early developmental outcomes by applying the Nurturing Care Framework (NCF) using the Side-by-Side Campaign. The 5 NCF components are addressed at various levels through enabling environments, namely policies, supportive services (early childhood development [ECD] centers), empowered communities (community health workers) and, most importantly, caregiver capabilities. Caregivers, ECD practitioners and community health workers should not be underestimated as key role-players in creating enabling environments for ECD. These stakeholders are best positioned to facilitate developmental care but need support through innovative healthcare solutions. Three studies proposing solutions will be discussed in this session. Studies investigated the potential of community stakeholders, from various enabling environments, to facilitate ECD in low-resourced communities, including caregivers, ECD practitioners/early childhood educators, and community health workers. Future implications for practice will be outlined to increase support to community stakeholders in ECD, guided by the NCF, and to counter barriers experienced in low-resourced, high-risk communities. Contributing Papers Do Text Messages about Health and Development in Young Children Affect Caregiver Behavior and Child Outcomes? A Systematic Review Presenting Authors: Pillay, B.; Richardson, B. P.; Swanepoel, D. W.; van der Linde, J. Exploring the Knowledge and Needs of Early Childhood Development Practitioners from a Low-Resource Community Presenting Authors: Eccles, R.; Graham, M. A.; Smit, N. A.; Swanepoel, D. W.; van der Linde, J. Reliability and Perceptions of Community Health Workers on mHealth Developmental Screening for Vulnerable Children Presenting Authors: du Toit, M. N.; Swanepoel, D. W.; van der Linde, J.
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