Prevention of mental handicaps in children in primary health care

Some 5-15 percent of children aged 3 to 15 years in both developing and developed countries suffer from mental handicaps... the primary health care approach involving families and communities and instilling the spirit of self-care and self-help is indispensable. Mothers and other family members, traditional births attendents, community health workers, as well as nurse midwives and physicians should be involved in prevention and intervention acitivites, for which they should be trained and given knowledge and skills about appropriate technologies such as the risk approach, home-based maternal record, partograph, mobilogram (kick count), home-risk card, icterometer, and mouth-to- mask or bag and mask resuscitation of the newborn...