Provide every expectant mother with prenatal care. Providing basic care to expectant mothers is less glamorous than rushing in later with advanced technology to rescue premature infants, but it saves money, lives and heartache. This is especially true in cases where a pregnancy is complicated by the mother's diabetes, poor diet, alcoholism, drug abuse, age or other risk factors. Every expectant mother should be provided with prenatal care. Vaccinate all children.
Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective public health measures.
Although some vaccines have been linked to occasional ad- verse side effects, their benefits outweigh the risks. In some populations in the United States as many as half of all chil- dren have not been fully vaccinated. This rate improves by school age, since all states require children to be immunized before enrolling, but waiting until age 5 is too late. Chil- dren need to be vaccinated earlier, and universally. That is welcome news, but many children still will be excluded from this worthy program, which helps get dis- advantaged children ready for school.