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WHY 1000 DAYS?
Babies brains develop and expand at an exponential rate during the first 1000 days. At the time when mum’s have a thousand dreams for their child’s future, the brain is being built to enable these dreams – or not.
Each layer of the brain’s “scaffold” must be put in place, ready for the next layer to be built on it. If just one layer’s compromised, every layer above it will be too.
Whether a child is born in Malawi or the UK, this matters hugely.
In some countries in Africa, this ‘brain-scaffold’ isn’t put in place in those 1,000 days meaning up to 50% of children are physically and mentally stunted. Soberingly, this is a start from which they probably will never recover.
In the UK also, a child’s mental and later physical health is framed to a large extent in those first 1000 days.
In Africa investing in the first 1000 days has been shown to be one of the best investments that can be made and is now backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organisation: 1000 dreams is supported by the latest scientific research.
"The period from conception through the first 2 years – roughly speaking the first 1000 days – is uniquely significant. Because this is when the nervous system itself is being established and shaped by experience. During this period, how parents behave has as much influence on their child’s emotional makeup as his or her genetic inheritance".
Dr Sue Gerhard, author ‘Why love matters.’
SUPPORT A MUM
Please will you help a mum and her baby in Africa to make the most of the first 1000 days and make a difference for a lifetime!
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