Focus on life chances!

Frank Field MP in a recent lecture suggested the we should focus on 'life chances' rather other more abstract goals. The life chances of children living in countries where disease is rife may not only have fewer life chances-they may according to recent research-have by dint of a need to fight to survive disease and malnutrition lower IQ's. One possible cause being that so much energy is spent on this fight against infection that the brains early development is impaired. The researches claimed that there has been insufficient attention paid to this fact. Moreover they think it ranks alongside education and wealth as a major factor that influences cognitive development. One of the leading thinkers in this field is Randy Thornhill of the University of New Mexico in a paper in the journal of Proceedings of the Royal Society he argues that children under the age of five devote much of their energy to brain development. When the body has to fight infections it may have to sacrifice some of that development for survival. A truly Darwinian idea. The scientist found that the level of infectious disease in a country was closely linked to the average national IQ. The consequences if this is proved to be the case are clear-unless you do something to reduce the level of infectious disease in a county both its intellectual and financial. wealth will not improve. Will the world listen and take action?