It is information which almost all parents can put into practice, to some degree, at very low cost. Since its first publication in 1989, Facts for Life has met with a worldwide response. Over 100 countries have produced translations or adaptations and a total of some 15 million copies in over 215 languages are currently in use. The text which follows is the 1993 edition. Every week, a quarter of a million children die in the developing world.
Many millions more live on with ill health and poor growth.
A fundamental cause of this tragedy is poverty. Another fundamental cause is that today's knowledge about protecting the health and growth of children has not yet been put at the disposal of the majority. Facts for Life helps to make this knowledge more widely available. But experience has shown that only frequent repetition of new information, from many trusted sources and over many years, can truly succeed in putting new health information at the disposal of all families and communities.