Children’s health must be set as a priority all over the world [1, 2], in particular now-a-days, when new challenges are emerging at a higher level of complexity. Such problems go beyond traditional clinical settings, and they include, in a non-exhaustive list, increase of obesity rate in children, increase in mortality and burden of injuries, higher prevalence of mental health-related issues, and difficulties in transition to adolescence. This requires the adoption of a holistic, integrated view among research clinics and prevention and public health interventions to effectively tackle the issue. In particular for research, cross-contamination at international level is mandatory to elicitate common pattern and to identify peculiarities at the geographical or socio-economic level [3].

This Supplement is adopting this perspective by putting together several research contributions from Italy, India, and Malaysia, building on the previous work on non-traditional risk factors for obesity in children [4]. The work has been developed under the umbrella of the Executive Programme of Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the Italian Republic and the Republic of India for years 2012–2014, under the joint support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Indian Ministry of Science & Technology [5].

Continuing along the same lines, the aim of this Italian-India research cooperation, is to look at children to provide those data which we believe are needed for a modern, evidence-based approach to foster their health in a converging perspective among several medical specialties.

In this Special Issue, the first Italian study addresses a very current topic, the migratory flow directed towards the Italian territory, that poses new challenges about the guarantee of fundamental human rights, especially towards little children. In this context, Bardin et al. [6] investigate the role of maternal citizenship on the risk of avoidable hospitalization of their children.

In the second study, the focus is on the usage of pediatric trials with at least one enrolling site in India [7]. In fact, clinical research in pediatric population is complex and can be challenging because of this potentially fragile population together with safety concerns and stringent ethical requirements.

In India again, Lorenzoni et al. explore the association between obstructive sleep apnea and obesity-related metabolic outcomes in obese children, through an observational, cross-sectional, single-center study [8].

Foreign body aspiration in children is still a serious problem that can lead to several complications, including death. The study conducted by Gendeh et al. is the first retrospective review of publications about foreign body aspiration in various healthcare centres in Malaysia in the last 45 y [9].

Last two studies address another delicate topic: the transition from childhood to adolescence. In the first one, Bianchin et al. conducted a population-based study on school-aged girls aimed to evaluate headache pain pattern during the menstrual cycle, and verify its relationships with physical, psychosocial and life-style factors [10]. In the second one, a multicenter cross-sectional study on a large sample of Italian girls, De Sanctis et al. explore the independent role of age at menarche on menstrual abnormalities among adolescents [11].

We hope that data and results, as well a methodological developments will help in a better understanding of the most recent challenges in children health in both countries. Finally, we gratefully acknowledge the help and continuous support of the Editor Emeritus of the Indian Journal of Pediatrics, Prof. Verma.