**1. Introduction**

Access to health and education services, are essential factors for optimal development, functioning and well-being of the child, factors paralleling the development, functioning and well-being of family, community, and society. Limited or deprived access to health services and education significantly challenges the development of children, as well as the development of families and communities, restricting their developmental potential for school and work. The extent to which developmental outcomes of child, family or community is favorable is defined by the realization of basic human rights of access to health and education services. Recognition of the parallel between the development of the child and the development of families and communities has served as the basis for national and global initiatives in health and education in recent decades exemplified by Education for All, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) [1,2]. Implementation of each of these initiatives over the last three decades has been associated with variable progress in addressing the enduring cycles of poverty, infant mortality, malnutrition, illiteracy, and inequalities in access to health care and education of children. However, risks for delay and disability and unmet potential in early development of young children are still pervasive, particularly in low- and middle-income countries [3].

The Declaration of Human Rights in the middle of the 20th century formalized the recognition of basic human rights of access to health and education and provided a standard for referencing the association of inequalities of those rights with limited development of nation states. Recognition of the extent of those inequalities and their disproportionate impact on children and their development was formalized decades later with the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child—UNCRC [4]. Although all of the articles of UNCRC define conditions for reducing inequalities and promoting children's developmental potential, the rights to health and nutrition (Article 24), education (Articles 28 and 29), and articles ensuring that those rights are realized without discrimination of gender,

**Citation:** Schiariti, V.; Simeonsson, R.J.; Hall, K. Promoting Developmental Potential in Early Childhood: A Global Framework for Health and Education. *Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health* **2021**, *18*, 2007. https://doi.org/10.3390/ ijerph18042007

Academic Editor: Mirja Hirvensalo

Received: 26 December 2020 Accepted: 16 February 2021 Published: 19 February 2021

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ethnicity, disability and other identities (Articles 2 and 23) are particularly germane to the priorities defined by the MDG and the SDG. This perspective builds on documentation of the status of children, their health and development through comprehensive surveys on national, regional, and global levels. The surveys established the prevalence of child and maternal health conditions and the environmental factors that placed children's development at significant risk for delay and disability. In higher income countries, documentation of risk factors to children's health and development led to more effective medical care and improved services for children with chronic conditions. In middle- and lower income countries, such documentation served as the basis for population-based program of disease prevention development of primary care.

Although, documentation of child-environment developmental risk factors has made a great contribution to our understanding of modifiable risk factors, there is a need for a universal framework promoting early child development in low-, middle- and higherincome countries across the health and education sectors, that could guide assessments and interventions as the children grow and develop globally. Therefore, the aims of this paper were to:

