Being healthy also means being safe. At present, many infants and toddlers are not safe. Some grow up in neighborhoods where a walk to the grocery store or an afternoon in the playground may be fraught with danger. Some spend long stretches, while their parents work, in substandard child care, under the supervision of underpaid, distracted babysitters, or in the care of brothers or sisters who themselves need more adult attention. Unfortunately, not all young children now receive adequate health care.
Immunization remains haphazard, with predictable consequences.
In 1992, more than 60 percent of children in most states had not received a complete sequence of recommended immunizations by age two. As a result, our poorest communities are plagued by high rates of infant mortality, low-birthweight babies, communicable childhood diseases, and child abuse. Children growing up in poverty suffer from higher rates of malnutrition and anemia than do other children. Many of the tragedies represented by these statistics are preventable. In 1992, 8.4 million children lacked access to health care services because they had no insurance, and millions more were insured for only part of the year.