Peer-reviewed article
Improving humanitarian health responses for children through nurturing care
Ayesha Kadir, Linda Doull, James McQuen Patterson, Mushtaq Khan, Rachael Cummings et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper examines how humanitarian health responses can better support children affected by disasters by integrating nurturing care interventions for early child development. Children face toxic stress from humanitarian crises, yet health sector responses typically lack routine interventions to protect and promote their development. The paper reports on a webinar series by global health organizations that concluded incorporating nurturing care into acute phase emergency responses can save lives and improve children's long-term opportunities. The authors argue that even simple interventions, when systematically applied, can transform outcomes for affected children and national recovery.
Key points
- Children are disproportionately impacted by humanitarian disasters and experience toxic stress
- Current health sector interventions in humanitarian contexts have gaps in protecting and promoting early child development
- Incorporating nurturing care interventions into health responses during acute phase emergencies is described as lifesaving
- Simple interventions, when systematically applied, can improve children's life opportunities and national economic recovery
- Global Health Cluster, Child Health Task Force, and Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies convened to address this gap
Limitations
This document presents conclusions from a webinar series rather than original research or empirical evidence. It does not provide data on the effectiveness of specific nurturing care interventions or demonstrate how they compare to standard humanitarian responses.
Abstract
Children are disproportionately impacted by humanitarian disasters, which cause toxic stress. When a crisis overwhelms the capacity of health and social systems to meet the needs of a population, external crisis response teams working in a range of sectors may offer support to save lives and meet the affected populations' basic needs. Gaps have been identified in health sector interventions for children in humanitarian contexts, including lack of routine interventions to protect and promote early child development (ECD). To address this gap and improve the quality of humanitarian responses for girls and boys, the Global Health Cluster, Child Health Task Force, and the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies held a webinar series on Strengthening Nurturing Care in Humanitarian Response. It concluded that incorporating interventions to support nurturing care for ECD into health responses in acute phase emergencies is lifesaving. In crisis contexts, even simple interventions can be the difference between life and death, and when systematically applied, they can dramatically improve a child's life opportunities as well as national recovery and economic growth.