LONDON, June 18 (Reuters) - Kate, Britain's Duchess of
Cambridge, launches a new centre for early childhood on Friday
with the aim of raising the importance of the first five years
of children's lives and seeking to "transform society for
generations to come", her office said.
The centre, set up as part of Kate and husband Prince
William's Royal Foundation charity arm, will focus on three main
areas: promoting high-quality research; working with experts
from all sectors to find solutions; and developing campaigns to
raise awareness and inspire action.
"I’ve spoken to psychiatrists and neuroscientists, to
practitioners and academics and parents alike, and what has
become clear is that the best investment for our future health
and happiness is in the first five years of life," Kate said.
"By working together, my hope is that we can change the way
we think about early childhood, and transform lives for
generations to come."
Kensington Palace said Kate, who has three young children
with William aged from three to seven, had seen first-hand since
becoming a royal over a decade ago how issues from addiction and
violence to family breakdown and homelessness all had their
roots in the earliest years of life.
To coincide with the launch, the centre has published a
report 'Big Change Starts Small', written with help from the
London School of Economics and The Center on the Developing
Child at Harvard University.
This estimated that the cost of not taking preventative
action in early childhood in England alone was 16.13 billion
pounds ($22.5 billion), with society paying for remedial action
such as for children in care to long-term mental health issues.
The announcement comes a week after Kate was joined by U.S.
first lady Jill Biden on a visit to a school during the Group of
Seven leaders' summit in Cornwall, southwest England, where they
also met a group of childhood experts from Britain and the
United States.
($1 = 0.7165 pounds)
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)