Desenvolvimento infantil na primeira infância e insegurança alimentar entre crianças acompanhadas pelo Programa Criança Feliz no município de Cuité-PB

Abstract

Early childhood is characterized as the period of human life from birth to six years of age. During this phase, the child is within the “window of opportunity”, as their brain circuits are sensitive to receive environmental stimuli and to develop physical, cognitive, linguistic and socio-emotional skills. However, if the child is immersed in a context of vulnerabilities, great consequences can be generated in their brain structure and in child development. Studies have already shown that several risk factors can negatively influence early childhood development (ECD), Food Insecurity (FI) being one of them. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the IPD associated with AI in children up to three years of age accompanied by the Happy Child Program (PCF) in the city of Cuité-PB. For this work, a cross-sectional, analytical and descriptive research was carried out through the application of a questionnaire that collected socioeconomic and AI situation information from 112 families and children monitored by the PCF. The 14-question Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (EBIA) was used for households under 18 years of age. For the analysis of child development, the Denver II Screening Test was used. Descriptive and statistical association analyzes were performed using the chi-square test, with a 95% confidence interval and a significance level of p < 0.05. The sample was characterized by 52.7% of the children being female and 47.3% male. As for the FI condition, 64.9% of the households were classified in some degree of FI, with 54.1% classified as mild insecurity. The assessment of child development using the Denver II test showed that 33.9% of the children were suspected of having a developmental delay, with the Personal-Social (24.1%) and Language (21.4%) domains showing the highest percentages of failures when they were considered as “Caution”. The age group between 7-18 months was shown to be a critical period for all domains of development and for suspected delay, given that it presented significant percentages. There were no statistical differences between the association of sociodemographic and AI characteristics with children's child development, based on the result of the Denver II test. However, the prevalence of children classified as “Suspect” was higher when the family was classified as food insecure (71.1%). Thus, the need to promote public policies that support food security aimed at families and children who are in early childhood is emphasized, as socio-environmental conditions are essential for the proper development of the child.