ChinaREACH: Rural Education and Child Health for Left Behind Children

Responsive and sensitive adult–child interaction in the early years is the essential stimulation for brain development and can mediate the adverse effects of poverty, neglect, and life events on the developing child. ... [ view full abstract ]

Responsive and sensitive adult–child interaction in the early years is the essential stimulation for brain development and can mediate the adverse effects of poverty, neglect, and life events on the developing child. Inequality in China is most striking between rural and urban areas. Approximately 20 percent are children under 6 years old. In poor rural areas, 20% of the under 5 are stunted, 30% of under-2s are anemic. Girls, minorities, children left behind by migrant parents are at greater risks.

The China Development Research Foundation, whose mission is to translate evidence-based pilots to social policy, is implementing three RCTs to assess and compare parenting and child development models-- the Jamaica Curriculum for home visiting, place-based Responsive Care model and the Enriched Caregiving approach, in nationally designated rural poverty counties in three respective provinces, Gansu, Qinghai and Henan. Specifically, the Rural Education and Child Health project (ChinaREACH) is a two year randomized control trial (RCT) designed to evaluate the combined impact of nutrition plus parenting for families with infants and toddlers aged 6–36 months using an adapted version of the Jamaica parenting curriculum.

ChinaREACH seeks to promote optimal health, cognitive, and social-emotional outcomes for rural children related to school readiness and lifespan achievement by supporting very early access to nutrition, informed caregiving, and enriched adult-child interaction in the home environment. The intervention is expected to differentially benefit ‘left-behind children’, girls, and ethnic minorities in rural counties and strengthen the human capital infrastructure for ECD programs in central and western China.