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Many of the serious public health problems affecting U.S. citizens and the global community, can be addressed by prevention science and practice. Instructive standards or guidance for prevention work have largely been missing from the professional literature. Despite empirical evidence that prevention works, the epidemiological literature continues to reflect significant disparities in the health status of ethnic minorities and the poor. The Major Contribution by Hage and colleagues addresses this gap in the literature by offering standards for conducting meaningful and effective prevention work. This response highlights the imperatives for prevention work and other themes that deserve attention if prevention's potential impact on health is to be realized. The author discusses the necessity for training in prevention, multidisciplinary collaboration, and understanding and changing the social determinants of health. Prevention scientists must disseminate effective prevention strategies, and prevention practitioners must work with prevention scientists to adapt these strategies to respond to the challenges of conducting prevention work across diverse settings.

The emergence of the idea of a 'public child' throughout the course of the twentieth century is explored by highlighting on the way in which medical professionals in English Canada understood accidents in childhood. The ways in which shifts in attitudes toward public health, domesticity, race, and gender shaped ideas about children, their safety, and their protection are queried.