A few years ago, The Lancet published a group of papers on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. Just a few weeks ago, they published a second series of papers on the Next 1,000 days, which, roughly, “refers to the period between a child’s second and fifth birthdays.”

The piece is a sweeping synthesis of scores of studies carried out across the world in early childhood. It offers a refrain that is both novel and familiar: sustained investment in early childhood ought to be a priority on both local and global scales.

The piece concludes with an invitation and call to action: “Attention is warranted on how to effectively leverage partnerships across health, nutrition, ECCE, and protection platforms, informed by relevant data in key areas,” and invite leaders to think about how to lean into partnerships with ECCE and other needed areas of support.