Skip Navigation LinksSkip Navigation Links
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Safer Healthier People
Blue White
Blue White
bottom curve
CDC Home Search Health Topics A-Z spacer spacer
spacer
Blue curve MMWR spacer
spacer
spacer

National Child Health Month -- October 1999

Since 1992, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has designated October as Child Health Month to increase public awareness of the value of preventive health care for children. This year, Child Health Day is October 4. To promote the health of the approximately 78 million children and teenagers in the United States, CDC recommends the following for children and parents. Children should 1) learn to wash their hands to prevent infections; 2) eat breakfast before going to school; 3) not smoke and avoid the smoke of others; and 4) exercise and play safely and appropriately use protective gear. Parents should 1) read to and be actively involved with their children; 2) get their children vaccinated; 3) get their children health-care insurance; 4) check for health hazards in their home and eliminate them; 5) place children weighing less than 40 lbs in child safety seats and all others in safety belts in rear seats of automobiles; 6) seek medical advice if their child is slow to learn; and 7) avoid tobacco use and limit alcohol use. In addition, women of childbearing age should take vitamins with folic acid to prevent certain birth defects.

Additional information about Child Health Month is available from AAP, telephone (847) 981-7871, or on the World-Wide Web at http://www.aap.org; http://salud.unm.edu/asthma/chm/Childmo.htm; http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/uspop.html; and http://www.hrsa.dhhs.gov/childhealth/outreach.htm .*

* References to sites of non-CDC organizations on the Internet are provided as a service to MMWR readers and do not constitute or imply endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content of pages found at these sites.

Disclaimer   All MMWR HTML versions of articles are electronic conversions from ASCII text into HTML. This conversion may have resulted in character translation or format errors in the HTML version. Users should not rely on this HTML document, but are referred to the electronic PDF version and/or the original MMWR paper copy for the official text, figures, and tables. An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; telephone: (202) 512-1800. Contact GPO for current prices.

**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to mmwrq@cdc.gov.

Page converted: 9/30/1999

HOME  |  ABOUT MMWR  |  MMWR SEARCH  |  DOWNLOADS  |  RSSCONTACT
POLICY  |  DISCLAIMER  |  ACCESSIBILITY

Safer, Healthier People

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd, MailStop E-90, Atlanta, GA 30333, U.S.A

USA.GovDHHS

Department of Health
and Human Services

This page last reviewed 5/2/01