Proper prenatal care and childhood health care are critical to supporting appropriate physical and mental development. Proper health care throughout life can prevent chronic health problems which impair a person's ability to be a productive member of the community. Appropriate care includes not only treatment of specific illnesses but also preventative care. Many chronic health problems and non-communicable diseases are preventable with proper education and early intervention. Providing a continuum of care and ensuring services such as childhood immunization and access to prenatal care can prevent serious illness, improve community productivity, increase economic outputs, save money, and lessen the need for emergency care.
Immunizations are one of the most cost-effective preventive health measures known to medicine today.
The national goal is to have at least 90 percent of children properly immunized by their second birthday by the year 2000. This 2000 objective cannot be achieved without the development of a community-wide immunization tracking system that will feed into the statewide immunization registry. One recent study suggests that the popular assumption that children do not get immunized properly because parents are not well informed or have poor attitudes about vaccinations may be wrong. This study indicates that children may not be getting immunized because parents are unaware of their child's immunization status and that the onus may be on health care providers to keep track of children's immunization status, to remind parents about their children's shots, and to contact parents who missed scheduled immunization visits. In 1995, the Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine of the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended the development of state and local registries to provide a reliable system for tracking children's immunizations.