Intended for professionals, The Healthy Child provides the background essential for workers in the fields of education, psychology, nutrition, social work, nursing, public health, and medicine. The range of disciplines and occupational experience represented by the contributors makes possible the presentation of a broad view of the child and his needs at all stages.

Written to increase the understanding of general principles and their application, the contributions include discussions of maternal health and nutrition during pregnancy and their relation to the fetus and infant, physical growth and development, psychological and social development, educational progress, nutrition, and the general aspects of illness and immunity by age periods. In the concluding chapter, these basic aspects of child development are related to the organization of maternal and child health services in different kinds of communities.

The contributors emphasize throughout the interrelation of physical and psychological aspects of child development with family and other social circumstances, as well as with the effects of illnesses and handicaps.