In both developed and developing countries many young women continue to have children before having reached social and biological maturity. This pattern takes its toll in excessively higher rate of maternal and new born mortality and life long morbidity. The health and well being require that we advocate healthy lifestyles and promote responsible parenthood. A parent who smokes increases the child's chance of respiratory disease and other diseases and contributes to a small but significant impairment of the child's growth. Children born of adolescent parents are at higher risk of prenatal and infant morbidity and mortality.
Statistics tend to show that they are also more likely to suffer child abuse and neglect.
When left to themselves or separated from their families at an early age, children are more likely to acquire health damaging lifestyles such as substance abuse under peer pressure and external influence. The future of any society depends on the health, growth and development of its children and youth Survival is but one dimension of infant and child health in primary health care. Health whole is our common goal and is jointly defined by all WHO member states. It requires that we focus on infancy and childhood are crucial stages in the health development process of any individual. This is when we can work on focusing on optimum physical growth and psycho social development and identify and control the prerequisites of a dark disease.