The individuals in this study were born during the Apartheid era and were almost certainly disadvantaged in the early years of their lives, with low survival.
Furthermore, the approach to CF care in Denmark, characterised by monthly follow-up and aggressive treatment of infections, may protect the most disadvantaged in the early years.
We work with the Government to support children, especially the most disadvantaged, during their early years and their families to ensure a conducive, nurturing environment for children to survive, thrive and reach their full potential in school and later in life.
As the University of Chicago economist James J. Heckman argued in 2011, "we overinvest in attempting to remediate the problems of disadvantaged adolescents and underinvest in the early years of disadvantaged children," when the potential gains are supposedly the largest.
2. Prioritise support for disadvantaged children in the early years (0-six).
These include taking millions of low-paid people out of income tax, the pupil premium for disadvantaged children in their early years, delivering cash rises in pensions, and creating 1.6m new apprenticeships.
The decision to put some of the extra money into early years for the disadvantaged follows work submitted to government by the new poverty adviser, Frank Field, who has urged the coalition to make the first five years the top priority.
The current difficulties facing those calling for early years services, "especially in the most disadvantaged areas", are a huge contrast to the New Labour years, Longfield says.
Evidence from the USA that was influential included randomised control trials of early years' interventions, demonstrating clear benefits for disadvantaged children of high quality childcare provision, whether started in infancy (Abecedarian Project, Ramey, & Campbell, 1991) or at three years of age (Perry Pre-school Project, Schweinhart et al., 1993).
"Further, we are also introducing the Early Years Pupil Premium, which is worth £50million, to help early years providers give more support to those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.
About 80% of three-year-olds from the most disadvantaged areas currently attend childcare with a qualified teacher or early years professional.
