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COVID-19 (2022 Deadline)
Early child development during a global pandemic: Indirect effects of COVID-19 in South Africa
PI: Roisin Elizabeth Drysdale (roisin.drysdale@wits.ac.za), University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
U.S. Partner: Chris Desmond, University of KwaZulu-Natal (funded by National Institutes of Health)
Project Dates: November 1, 2022 - December 31, 2023
Project Overview:
 | | USAID, DSI and NAS visit Roisin Drysdale's team at DPHRU |
Evidence of the impact of pandemics and national responses to them on early child development and growth is limited, particularly on the important first 1,000 days of life. Available data from the United States, the United Kingdom and China indicate that exposure to lockdown conditions is associated with delays in cognitive, motor and language skills in infants at 6 months. Preliminary data from South Africa is showing similar findings, with additional evidence suggesting that infants exposed to strict lockdown conditions in-utero were more likely to be born low birth weight. In order to mitigate these negative effects, maintain any improvements in child learning outcomes and reduce future educational inequalities, there is a need to improve understanding of how the pandemic has affected child growth and development.
In this study, the project team will assess the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic and the national response to it has affected early child development and growth among young children up to 2 years of age. The team have been collecting data from a cohort of infants aged 12 months who were exposed to lockdown conditions in-utero and born during the second wave of COVID-19 infections in South Africa. In this study, the team will follow-up with the same infants at 24 months, and recruit additional mother-infant pairs of similar age from routine health visits to increase the sample size. These infants have spent much of their first 1,000 days living under lockdown conditions.
The project will collect data on socio-demographic characteristics of the household, caregiver and infant, child development, child feeding practices, clinic attendance, caregiver experiences of parenting through the pandemic and household experiences of COVID-19 illness and death. Child development will be measured through the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Third edition (ASQ-3). The ASQ-3 is an easy-to-use screening tool used to identify developmental delays among children aged from two months to five years in five domains (communication, fine motor, gross motor, personal-social and problem solving). During CGGP, the ASQ-3 was completed when the infants were aged 6 and 12 months. To ensure consistency in the data collected, we will use same tool. However, this tool is based on parent reporting. To limit bias, when able to, a trained data collector will “test” the infant on some of the questions to ensure the parent does not over-report. These can include, but are not limited to activities with a ball, a mirror or some vocal activities. To capture the home environment and how it promoted young children’s development, we will use the Home Screening Questionnaire (HSQ). This is a 30-item parent-report tool that measures features of the home environment related to child development. Both of these screening tools and questionnaires have been validated for use in South Africa.
This project is jointly supported by the South Africa Department of Science and Innovation.
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