Definition of Child health

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Child health: Child health is the purview of pediatrics.

"Pediatrics is concerned with the health of infants, children and adolescents, their growth and development, and their opportunity to achieve full potential as adults." (Richard E.Behrman in Nelson's Textbook of Pediatrics)

Pediatrics became a medical specialty in the mid-19th century. Before that time the care and treatment of childhood diseases was included within such areas as general medicine and obstetrics (and midwifery).

The first pediatric monograph written in the U.S. was by Charles Caldwell. Caldwell received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1796. His doctoral thesis was on diseases of childhood associated with fever.

One of the pioneers of pediatrics in the U.S. was Dr. Abraham Jacobi. Born in Germany in 1830, Dr. Jacobi came to the U.S. in 1853 and went into practice in New York City. By 1860 he held the special Chair of Diseases of Children at the New York Medical College and in 1866 he established a pediatric clinic -- the first in this country.