The United States and the International Year of the Child

Readers of Pediatrics are among the most effective advocates for children; as pediatricians, our primary focus is on children's health. It is evident that many of the forces that shape children's health are to be found throughout society and frequently are beyond the control of individual children or their families. The advancement of child health in the United States increasingly demands both individual effort by health professionals in the diagnosis and treatment of illness, and community activities focused on health problems, such as the prevention of vehicular accidents, that depend more on the design and function of cities than on biology and medicine.