CHILD HEALTH IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
Norman Kretchmer M.D., Ph.D.1
1 Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California
It Was November 18, 1960, when President Kennedy requested the formation of task forces to formulate foreign policy and posed a specific question for Africa, "What special propositions should we make-in regard to raising the educational level, the fight against disease and improving the available food supply?" The year before, in mentioning the national preoccupation with the missile gap, he referred to another gap, "the economic gap," by which he meant, "the gap in living standards and income level and hope for the future. It is this gap which presents our most critical challenge today-and it is to this gap we have responded most sporadically, most timidly and most inadequately." During his administration, AID was established, the Peace Corps entered the field, and the percent of total health research funds devoted to international support rose from 9.7% in 1960 to 28.7% in 1963 and, regretfully, the percent has since remained stable.
A critical examination of the title of this talk immediately raises the question-what in fact is the developing world and why is it considered to be developing? We generally speak of developing countries in terms of their political and economic emergence, but from a medical point of view they may be viewed as receptacles of vast, almost overpowering, health problems, in a perpetual struggle between population and fulfillment of the needs for a good life. Consequently, overpopulation cannot be defined simply in terms of square footage of land, but rather it relates the available facilities to the basic needs of man for food, shelter, physical protection, and human dignity.
Submitted on June 24, 1968
Accepted on July 29, 1968
