The care of infants and children.

Abstract

The growth and development of pediatrics took place principally in the twentieth century. One result has been the reduction in deaths in the first year of life 165/1000 live births to 10/1000 live births in 1987. The birth rate was reduced by one-half during the same period. The challenges of the future are to consider the needs of American children in the context of the world's children, since isolation from global problems associated with logarithmic population growth in the developing countries and maldistribution of food is no longer possible. The time has come to consider the limits to application of our ever more sophisticated technology to support life at both ends of the spectrum of human life, the most immature and the most debilitated elderly. Human behavior continues to be unnecessarily destructive for children. Congenital AIDS and drug-abusing parents are catastrophic for the infant. Accidents remain the leading cause of death of children in America. Deaths from diarrheal diseases and malnutrition are the main causes of death of children in developing countries. Nearly all of these problems are preventable with the application of current knowledge. How could we have let the best interests of children slip so far down on our national list of priorities in health care?