With the advent of the sustainable development goals, the field of global child health has
shifted its focus from reducing mortality to improving health, nutrition and development
outcomes—often measured as human capital. A growing knowledge of the biology of
development and neuroscience has highlighted the importance of adverse environmental
exposures, collectively termed adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on health outcomes.
ACEs are associated with short-term, medium-term and long-term negative consequences …

IN MORE THAN 60 ARTICLES SINCE 1998, INTER-nist Vincent Felitti, MD, pediatrician
Robert Anda, MD, MS, and others have studied the relationship of childhood adversity and a
variety of lifelong physical and emotional outcomes. 1, 2 Using a retrospective study design,
they surveyed 17 337 adult health maintenance organization members (average age, 57
years) about crucial events during childhood and linked those events in a dose-response
manner with cardiovascular disease; cancer; AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases; …