Preventive pediatrics remains the foundation for pediatricians to offer benefits for future generations. Social conditions often complicate health status and bureaucracies pose challenges for families and children to navigate service systems. Therefore, it is crucial to emphasize a host of topics that children and families face in addition to highlighting opportunities for overcoming some of those challenges. In this issue, an array of authors will update pediatricians on the prevalence and management of chronic health and social conditions such as childhood poverty, youth violence, oral health, asthma, foster care, toxin exposures including tobacco, and childhood obesity. Promising interventions that pediatricians should continue to examine include: how pediatricians can advocate for breastfeeding as a wellness concept for working mothers in the workplace; promotion of childhood literacy development; maximizing immunization compliance; monitor the impact of public policy such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on children’s health; and how community health workers (CHWs) can be vital to community health improvement. Proposed interventions include a description of how the medical and legal partnership model can be an empowering strategy for families to address social determinants of health (SDH) when lawyers are included as a member of the health care team. In addition, pediatricians and all other child healthcare professionals must investigate epigenetic mechanisms that might predispose children to risk factors or good health outcomes.

Together with Consulting Editor Dr. William Rayburn, Dr. Curtis Lowery has put together a unique issue that discusses the telemedicine in obstetrics and gynecology. Expert authors have contributed clinical review articles on the following topics What is telehealth and what do I need to know about it; Licensing, reimbursement and regulatory issues in the delivery of telemedicine and connected health; Telemedicine for low-risk obstetrics; Telemedicine In high-risk obstetrics; Telemedicine for gynecology; Telemedicine and Connected Health for GYN oncology; Telemedicine and connected health for contraception; Maternal Health and monitoring devices for obstetrics and gynecology; Telepsychiatry and drug treatment in obstetrics; Telemedicine as a method to reduce perinatal mortality; and Telemedicine and distance learning for OB/GYN provider education. Readers will come away with the information they need to incorporate telemedicine into their care of gynecologic or obstetric patients.

Together with Consulting Editor Dr. Bonita Stanton, Dr. Henry Roane has put together a comprehensive issue that addresses Pediatric Prevention. Expert authors have contributed clinical review articles on the following topics: ? Pediatric Prevention: Foster Care; Pediatric Prevention: Feeding Dysfunction; Pediatric Prevention: Academic Behavior; Pediatric Prevention: Child Abuse; Pediatric Prevention: Severe Behavior Disorders; Pediatric Prevention: Dental Hygiene; Pediatric Prevention: Autism; Pediatric Prevention: Obesity; Pediatric Prevention: Tic Disorders; Pediatric Prevention: Sleep Dysfunction; Pediatric Prevention: Gun Safety; Pediatric Prevention: General Prevention; and Pediatric Prevention: Addiction.? Readers will come away with the clinical information they need to provide preventive care to pediatric patients

The Guest Editors have assembled an international list of top experts to present the most current information to pediatricians about patient safety. The issue has a primarily clinical focus with a few articles addressing the business and practice of patient safety. Articles are devoted to the following topics: Developing performance standards and expectations for safety; The role of CPOE in patient safety; The role of smart infusion pumps on patient safety; Abstracted detection of adverse events in children; The role of effective communication (including handoffs) in patient safety; Reducing mortality resulting from adverse events; Optimizing standardization of case reviews (morbidity and mortality rounds) to promote patient safety; Impact of (resident) duty work hours on patient safety; Role of simulation in safety; The role of diagnostic errors in patient safety; The role of collaborative efforts to reduce hospital acquired conditions; Patient safety in ambulatory care; Role of FDA and pediatric safety; and Patient safety through the eyes of a parent.

With collaboration of Dr. Bonita Stanton, Drs. Coppes and Fisher-Owens have created a current issue that looks at oral health in children, with a much needed update in the literature for pediatricians. Top experts have contributed clinical reviews on the following topics: Oral Health and Development; Infant Oral Health and the Influence of Habits; Prevention of tooth decay; Fluoride; Caries; Disparities in Children’s Oral Health (including Oral Health of Native Children); Children with Special Health Care Needs; Orthodontics; Oral Manifestations of Systemic Disease (specific to pediatrics and life course); Soft Tissue; Trauma; The Role of Primary Care Physicians (pediatricians and others) in Prevention Oral Disease; and Oral Health Care/Policies. Pediatricians will come away with the current clinical recommendations they need to improve oral health in children.

In collaboration with Consulting Editor Dr. Bonita Stanton, the Guest Editors of this issue of Pediatric Clinics of North America have comprehensively review the current and future opportunities for implementing telehealth into pediatric practice. Expert authors have written review articles that provide information based on current knowledge of implementation of technologies but also ask questions about how to implement and what potential challenges there will be. Articles are specifically devoted to: Overview of Telehealth for Pediatricians; Role of Doctor—Patient Relationship in Telehealth; Design Purpose and Design Thinking for Telehealth; How to Implement Telehealth in Pediatrics; Issues Related to Adoption of Health Apps and Telemedicine Programs; Workforce Trends and Business Model for Telehealth; Moral, Political and Economic and Social Dilemmas of Telehealth; Automated Digital Health with Big Data, Predictive Analytics and AI; Tele-rounds and Cased-Based Training; Role of Text-messaging and Messaging apps in telehealth; High-Quality Telehealth Training Programs; Technical and Regulatory Issues of Telehealth Medicine; and Global Health Perspective on Telehealth. Pediatricians will come away with the information they need to employ telemedicine in their clinical practice

Pediatricians in the Unites States and around the World continue to face a myriad of global health threats affecting child and adolescent health including: 1) infectious diseases of poverty [e.g. human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases] in low-and middle-income countries (LMIC), especially in sub Saharan Africa; 2) emerging and reemerging infectious diseases (such as Ebola); 3) rise of non-communicable diseases (e.g. common mental disorders); 4) unintentional injuries; and 5) environmental health hazards (e.g. climate change). Despite the promising news about rapid declines in maternal and child mortality in the era of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which originated from the United Nation (UN) Millennium Declaration in 2000, only 20% and 7% of LMIC are currently on track to attain the maternal and child mortality targets. For example, 44% of deaths in children younger than 5 years occur in neonates. Besides discovery of life-saving interventions (e.g. development of new and improved vaccines) for maternal and child health, we also need to do a better job at bridging the knowledge-implementation gap and increase the effectiveness of proven interventions. For example, despite the availability of effective vaccines to prevent pneumococcal pneumonia, rotavirus gastroenteritis, and human papilloma virus-related diseases (e.g. cervical cancer), use of these vaccines remain suboptimal in LMIC. We need to recognize that global health is also local public health. For example, improving access, equity and quality of care for orphans and vulnerable children, immigrant and newly arrived refugee children in the U.S. remains a challenge. Timely access to psychiatric care for children and adolescents with mental illness is a major concern. The explosion of new age technology (such as the internet) also poses a considerable risk to children and adolescents. Pediatricians also need to be aware of diverse socio-cultural determinants of health and ethical issues in global health service and delivery. This issue of Pediatric Clinics of North America aims to address the above crucial global health challenges affecting children and adolescents. As practicing pediatricians, we have the unique opportunity to influence local and global public health. In the post-MDG era (beyond 2015), collaborative partnerships between various disciplines and across research, education and service is vital to reduce health inequities in children worldwide.