As we reflect on causes of death in our children, methods of prevention become critically important to research and implement. Research notes that millions of childhood injuries result in thousands of deaths. Death can be due to medical disease and considerable progress including prevention of death has been made in management of cancer and other conditions over the past century, especially in developed countries. It is also important to apply principles of management and prevention to consequences of aggression and chronic illness. As illustrated in this book, we must look at underlying issues, both medical and behavioral, in the physical and psychiatric health of our children. We should apply known principles of preventive medicine that are being researched in the 21st century to prevent needless deaths in our pediatric population. Prevention may arise from such understanding and application of known concepts with fewer pediatric deaths and fewer parents/families undergoing heart-breaking grieving processes.
JJoav Merrick, MD, MMedSci, DMSc Professor of Pediatrics at the Division of Pediatrics, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Mt Scopus Campus, Jerusalem, Israel, Kentucky Childrens Hospital, University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States and Professor of Public Health at the Center for Healthy Development, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, United States, the former Medical Director of the Division for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services, Jerusalem and the Founder and Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Israel
Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Western Michigan University School of Medicine, Kalamazoo, MI, USA
Dustin C. Rowland, MS Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine, Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States of America