As many as 200 million children fail to reach their full potential, and children in poverty have a higher chance of adversity that risks disrupting brain development. This is a devastating waste of human capital that leaves the next generation ill equipped to solve the enormous challenges that lock individuals, communities and societies in poverty.

The challenge is to develop and scale up products, services and policies that protect and nurture early brain development in a sustainable manner, thereby unlocking the potential of the next generation of children and providing their countries with an exit strategy from poverty.

Saving Brains promotes the fulfillment of human capital potential by focusing on interventions that nurture and protect early brain development in the first 1,000 days of life. We support bold ideas to improve early brain and child development in low- and middle-income countries.  The portfolio currently includes innovations addressing three components of healthy development:

  • Health & Nutrition
  • Enrichment
  • Protection

Watch the Video: Saving Brains, A Grand Challenge by Dr. Mike Evans (9:12):

Saving Brains projects measure the following common outcome metrics:

Physical growth HAZ, LAZ or WAZ
Cognitive function General intelligence, executive function
Language Receptive and expressive language, literacy
Socioemotional capacity Behavioural and emotional problems, infant temperament
Academic attainment Years of schooling, school access