A/70/213 Individual and societal health can be improved through cost -effective and culturally relevant interventions focusing on enhancing children’s emotional and social development, competent parenting and the quality of relationships between children and parents in early childhood. B. Progress in early childhood development and health 28. Despite the very large number of children that fail to reach their development potential, the issue has not been a focus of global attention. It is not explicitly captured by the Millennium Development Goals. In high -income countries, programmes aimed at the promotion of healthy development in early childhood are widespread. However, in low- and middle-income countries, even while awareness of child development is increasing along with the number of relevant policies and programmes, 18 progress is far too slow. While there is a growing consensus that child survival and child development are deeply interrelated, programme financin g at the international level has not yet reflected this understanding. 29. The post-2015 development agenda signals a shift from the focus on the survival and health of children under 5 years of age to their survival, health, well being and development. Sustainable development will require healthy, productive, creative, emotionally competent, confident and capable individuals, meaning that early childhood interventions must focus on development as well as survival. 19 The draft sustainable development goals include new targets, many of which are relevant to early child development. Equity is also an objective and cross -cutting consideration of the sustainable development goals, with important implications for the right to health and early child development. 30. Reinforcing the sustainable development goals approach, the “zero draft” of the global strategy for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health 20 is structured around three goals: survive (ending preventable deaths); thrive (realizing health and rights); transform (comprehensive change for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health and sustainable development). 31. Children’s right to health includes both their survival and their healthy development. Although ensuring the survival of children is critical, their healthy development is essential to their right to health as well as to other human rights and dignity, both in the short term and throughout their lives. Second, the joining up of these agendas makes practical sense because mortality and morbidity, and obstructed development, among children under 5 years of age share many causes, __________________ 18 19 20 8/25 P. Engle and others, “Strategies to avoid the loss of developmental potential in more than 200 million children in the developing world”, Lancet, vol. 369, No. 9557 (20 January 2007), pp. 229-242. A. Yousafzai and M. Arabi, “Bridging survival and development in the post­2015 agenda: partnerships in nutrition and early child development”, Early Childhood Matters, June 2015, pp. 19-27. Available from http://everywomaneverychild.org/images/Global-Strategy_Zero-Draft_FINAL_5May-2015_copy.pdf. 15-12535