Health for all children

The UK budget for preventive health care for children is probably well over two hundred million pounds per year. What does the nation get for its money? A Joint Working Party was set up in 1986 to try and answer this question. The first two editions of their report, Health for All Children, examined the various screening tests and procedures carried out in child-health clinics across the country, and recommended a 'core programme' of checks and reviews for pre-school children. The Working Party re-convened in 1994 and their latest assessment of the research literature is set out in this third edition of Health for All Children, which has been completely re-written. There is much new information about important topics such as screening for hearing loss, vision defects, biliary atresia, and iron deficiency anaemia. In addition, the whole approach to primary prevention and health promotion has been revised and given a much higher profile. Issues such as postnatal depression, prevention of cot death and accidents, and support to stressed parents are reviewed in detail. The result is an exciting new programme for child health surveillance; there are enough challenges and research questions in this book to keep child health professionals fully occupied well into the next century.