Introduction

Abstract

All developing countries carry a heavy burden of childhood illnesses. Many different factors are responsible for it — the level of socioeconomic development, scarcity of medical care, traditional methods of child-rearing, and so on. But perhaps the most significant factor is the widespread ignorance about the simple principles of child care. Many of the illnesses seen in children are preventable and this prevention has to begin at home where all illnesses also begin. Hospitals and clinics can only help to cure a disease when it is established in an individual; to eradicate sickness in a nation, the effort should begin at home. When each single homestead can put into practice the various principles of hygiene, the nation’s standards of public health will rise since public health is nothing but the sum total of the individual health practices of a people. Similarly when every household can practise the proper methods of child-rearing and care, the overall standard of child health will improve. To a certain extent this is already evident in urban areas where, because of better sanitation and housing, better understanding of the principles of child-rearing, and better services, the rates of child mortality are much lower than those of rural areas.