The Pre-school Child

Abstract

The social and health needs of the pre-school child have been realised rather late and therefore in the health services of many developing countries no special provision has been made for this age group. Whereas the antenatal and maternity services are well established in tradition, the infant is looked after in the infant welfare clinics and the school age child has the school health service to cater for his needs, no programme operates for the needs of the pre-school child. And yet the child in this age group is vulnerable to several disease processes. The infant mortality in many developing countries is high compared with Western countries; the pre-school age mortality is higher still and in some cases it is as much as 40 times the rate in Western countries.