A child health report card: 1992

It is because of statistics like the ones included above in the Report Card that the health of our children has become a topic of great concern. These statistics, however, reflect only a small piece of a much larger problem, which includes child poverty, child neglect, child abuse, family disintegration, educational failure, violence, and crime. Indeed the biggest threats to child health have roots in the past and present core of our social and environmental conditions. Improving the health of our children will require innovative and comprehensive approaches that include health education, health services, and family support. The cost of our failure to fund preventive programs in the area of child and family health is significant and mounting. Prenatal care for a pregnant women for 9 months cost about $600; however, medical care for a premature baby for only one day may cost more than four times as much ($2,500). Similar comparisons for the cost of prevention versus treatment are listed in Table 8. It is clear that unless we as a nation place more emphasis on funding preventive medicine, the health of our children will continue to suffer, with grave consequences for the future of our country.