Grand Challenges Canada awards projects to help children achieve full cognitive potential

"As many as 200 million children across the world fail to reach their full potential because their early brain development is held back by poverty, disease and malnutrition, global health experts said on Thursday," Reuters reports (Kelland, 9/13). The Canadian government-funded Grand Challenges Canada on Thursday "announced $11.8 million CAD [$12 million] in funding over two years for 11 bold ideas from innovators in the developing world, to address health conditions causing diminished cognitive potential and stunting," according to a Grand Challenges Canada press release (9/13). The projects, which will be implemented in developing countries such as Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Colombia, "include plans to encourage so-called 'kangaroo mother care,' where low-weight newborns are held skin to skin rather than put into incubators, and ways of combating maternal depression to boost interaction between mothers and babies," Reuters notes (9/13).