Opportunities and Challenges

According to the Guide to Community and Preventive Services and the Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, many interventions improve the health and well-being of women, infants, and children.^{37, 38} These include behavioral counseling programs to promote breastfeeding; screening for preeclampsia with blood measurement during women's pregnancy; and screening all newborns for phenylketonuria (PKU), congenital hypothyroidism, and hemoglobin disorders.

HHS recommends developmental screening for all infants and young children as part of routine medical care. Key efforts include raising awareness and knowledge; improving developmental screening; changing systems to improve availability of early identification, diagnosis, and services; and monitoring the benefits, usage, and outcomes of early identification.

States, local communities, and private-sector partners have been leaders in developing programs and interventions to address the maternal and child health issues included in the Healthy People 2010 objectives. One initiative addressing the current and emerging preventive and health promotion needs of infants, children, and adolescents is Bright Futures, an initiative to enhance the knowledge and skills of health care providers and help them practice developmentally appropriate preventive health care in the context of family and community.

Opportunities for birth defects surveillance have been provided through the National Birth Defects Prevention Network (NBDPN), a collaboration of individuals working at the State and national levels. NBDPN serves as a forum for developing uniform methods of birth defects surveillance, providing technical support, and exchanging ideas.³⁹

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