The Early Experiences Matter Policy Guide includes an issue brief on physical health. To access the brief and the complete toolkit, click here.

Baby Matters: A Gateway to State Policies and Initiatives is a searchable database that contains information on state policies and initiatives that impact infants, toddlers and their families. To search Baby Matters for information on physical health, click here.

Good Nutrition Feeds Healthy Development and a Healthy Future: Reauthorization of WIC and CACFP
Reviews the research on the impact of child nutrition programs and provides policy recommendations for the reauthorization of the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).
[  370 KB ]

Ensuring Adequate Health Coverage for Infants and Toddlers: Reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
This policy brief reviews the research on the impact of health coverage on the development of young children, and provides policy recommendations for the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Hearing on the Impact of Gaps in Health Coverage on Income Security
Statement of Matthew Melmed, Executive Director, ZERO TO THREE
Submitted to the Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support
U.S. House of Representatives
November 14, 2007
[  77.3 KB ]

RELATED RESOURCES

Affordable Health Care Keeps Children and Families Healthy
--Children’s HealthWatch (2009)
Explores the impact that adult healthcare affordability has on the development of very young children.

Feeding our Future: Growing Up Healthy with WIC
--Children’s HealthWatch (2009)
Details research on the impact of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) on very young children and provides policy recommendations for reauthorization.

Food Insecurity Rates Rise with Recession
--Children’s Health Watch (2009)
Describes the increase in food insecurity in low-income households with very young children from 2007 to 2008.  

Nourishing Development: A Report on Food Insecurity and the Precursors to School Readiness Among Very Young Children
--Children’s HealthWatch (updated 2008)
Explains how food insecurity increases risk for developmental delays among children birth to three and offers action steps for policymakers.

Food Stamps as Medicine: A New Perspective on Children’s Health
--Children’s HealthWatch (2007)
Explores the important protective effect of food stamps on food insecurity in very young children.

Vulnerable Infants and Toddlers in Four Service Systems
--The Urban Institute (2007)
Compiles data on vulnerable infants and toddlers in Early Head Start, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, the child welfare system, and the Part C Early Intervention Program, and explores implications for research, policy, and practice.