defines the significance of the problems, presents data on risk factors and etiology, and reviews state and national trends in the incidence of low birthweight among various groups. This report also describes the preventive approaches found most desirable, considers their costs, and discusses research needs.

Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (1998)

Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children

Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children examines factors that put children at risk of poor reading. It explores in detail how literacy can be fostered from birth through kindergarten and the primary grades, including evaluation of philosophies, systems, and materials commonly used to teach reading. The report makes recommendations that address the identification of groups of children at risk, effective instruction for the preschool and early grades, effective approaches to dialects and bilingualism, the importance of these findings for the professional development of teachers, and gaps that remain in the understanding of how children learn to read.

Prevention of Micronutrient Deficiencies: Tools for Policymakers and Public Health Workers (1998)

Committee on Micronutrient Deficiencies

This report examines key elements in the design and implementation of interventions designed to prevent micronutrient deficiencies. It also provides a conceptual framework that will allow funders to tailor programs to existing regional and country capabilities and to incorporate within these programs the capacity to address multiple prevention strategies and multiple micronutrient deficiencies. Prevention of Micronutrient Deficiencies also contains three background papers that address the prevention of deficiencies of iron, vitamin A, and iodine.

Reducing the Odds: Preventing Perinatal Transmission of HIV in the United States (1999)

Committee on Perinatal Transmission of HIV

The report evaluates the extent to which state efforts have been effective in reducing the transmission of HIV from pregnant mother to unborn child. Reducing the Odds recommends that HIV testing be a routine part of prenatal care and that health care providers notify women that this is part of the usual array of prenatal tests and that they have an opportunity to refuse the HIV test. This approach could help both reduce the number of pediatric AIDS cases and improve treatment for mothers with AIDS.