Making early childhood count.

A strong case has been built in support of the importance of early child development based on the "new neuroscience."1–3 We now understand that health, emotional well-being and life success have their roots in early childhood. This has implications for all countries that are signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child because each of these countries is responsible for providing children with the opportunities necessary to develop physical, cognitive, social and emotional capacities in early life.4 In this article, we discuss the approaches that can be used to monitor early childhood development.