Early childhood development (ECD) is instrumental to shaping educational, emotional, and economic trajectories; alleviating poverty; and achieving gender equality. Pediatricians are experts in children's health and trusted sources of guidance for families and clinicians and thus are optimal ECD champions. This case study describes collaboration by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Kenya Pediatric Association, and Pediatric Association of Tanzania to activate pediatricians as ECD champions in Kenya and Tanzania. From July 2020 through January 2021, the collaborators assessed ECD needs by interviewing 20 key informants per country from governmental ministries, nongovernmental organizations, and clinical practice and assessing datasets and policy documents. In 2021, the societies recruited 15 pediatricians per country as champions; surveyed their knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and trained them on 4 core competencies: understanding early brain development science; developmental and behavioral screening, surveillance, and diagnosis; integration of ECD promotion into clinical practice; and advocacy skills for ECD and nurturing care. In 2021, each society established advocacy-in-action projects to advance ECD. In Kenya, the cohort surveyed clinicians on barriers to ECD, implemented a 2-day in-person training for 90 providers, and developed a 5-week Fundamentals of ECD course, taken by 113 pediatricians from 7 African countries. In Tanzania, champions conducted ECD training workshops for 78 health managers and 189 health care providers in 9 facilities in 7 regions and established 9 ECD corners with toys and information in health care facilities. These results highlight considerations for supporting ECD, including building on existing strengths, infrastructure, and networks; strengthening ECD knowledge among pediatricians; and advocacy skill-building.

中文翻译：

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肯尼亚和坦桑尼亚儿科医生作为儿童发展倡导者：案例研究。


儿童早期发展 (ECD) 有助于塑造教育、情感和经济轨迹；减轻贫困；并实现性别平等。儿科医生是儿童健康方面的专家，也是家庭和临床医生值得信赖的指导来源，因此是最佳的 ECD 倡导者。本案例研究描述了美国儿科学会、肯尼亚儿科协会和坦桑尼亚儿科协会的合作，以激励儿科医生成为肯尼亚和坦桑尼亚的 ECD 冠军。从 2020 年 7 月到 2021 年 1 月，合作者通过采访每个国家来自政府部委、非政府组织和临床实践的 20 名关键知情人并评估数据集和政策文件来评估 ECD 需求。 2021 年，这些协会在每个国家招募了 15 名儿科医生作为冠军；调查他们的知识、态度和实践；并对他们进行 4 项核心能力的培训：了解早期大脑发育科学；发育和行为筛查、监测和诊断；将 ECD 推广纳入临床实践；以及儿童早期发展和养育护理的宣传技巧。 2021 年，每个协会都制定了倡导行动项目来推进幼儿发展。在肯尼亚，该队列对临床医生进行了 ECD 障碍方面的调查，为 90 名提供者进行了为期 2 天的现场培训，并开发了为期 5 周的 ECD 基础课程，由来自 7 个非洲国家的 113 名儿科医生参加。在坦桑尼亚，倡导者为 7 个地区 9 个设施的 78 名健康管理人员和 189 名医疗保健提供者举办了儿童早期发展培训讲习班，并在医疗保健设施中设立了 9 个提供玩具和信息的儿童早期发展角。 这些结果强调了支持儿童早期发展的考虑因素，包括利用现有优势、基础设施和网络；加强儿科医生的ECD知识；和宣传技能建设。