World priorities and targets in maternal and child health for the year 2000.

By the year 2000, 230 million more women of reproductive age and over 300 million more children over 15, will be living in developing countries. This will present a great challenge to the health systems of the world. The member states of the World Health Organization have unanimously agreed to work together to attain the noble goal of health for all by the year 2000.

WHO collaborative study on breast feeding.

WHO, concerned with the declining breast feeding rate in developing countries, has organized investigations in nine different countries of different aspects of breast feeding and breast milk with the ultimate aim of formulating programmes of intervention. The basic epidemiological study on 24000 mother/child pairs is just completed and some preliminary data are reported on the pattern of breast feeding in the three studied socio-economic groups--urban elite, urban poor and traditional rural--which differ significantly in their breast feeding rate as well as in the pattern of return of menstruation in breast-feeding and non-breast-feeding mothers.