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Adolescents with blindness or visual impairment, in order to go through the trying time of adolescence, require extra strength to overcome their disability. This short communication looks at prevalence data for blindness in children and adolescents that range from about 3 per 10,000 children in developed countries (60 blind children per million total population) to 15 per 10,000 in the poorest countries (600 blind children per million total population). Data from the year 2000 in Israel showed a total of 18,509 persons with blindness registered in Israel, including 168 children between the age 0-5 years and 788 between 6-18 years. Children and adolescents comprised 5.2% of the total with a small male dominance (520 males, 436 females). The total prevalence rate for children and adolescents (0-18 years) in Israel was 4.5 per 10,000 and 5.3 per 10,000 for the 6-18 year olds. The causes of blindness for children and adolescents in Israel are also presented, with optic atrophy the most common cause.

The Arab family in Israel is still embedded in the traditional society with extended family support systems, but we see a population in transition influenced by the surrounding society. This paper looks at the different religious attitudes toward the exceptional people in our society (i.e., the family reaction to a child born with intellectual or developmental disability), reviews recent studies on the Arab and Bedouin families in Israel, and presents data on the Arab population in residential care centers.Today, out of 57 residential care centers in Israel for persons with intellectual disability, 13 (22.8%) are providing service to the non-Jewish population. The Arab population constitutes 12–13% of the total residential care population, lower than the 19–20% in the total population. In residential care, the Arab population is characterized by younger children with severe and profound intellectual disability. The informal family support system is still a very important factor in the Arab family in Israel, a fact that we believe should be strengthened by implementing the British and Danish model of nurse home visitation.

Change in the attitudes of staff or the public towards people with intellectual disability (ID) can impact their life and health, but that change has not been studied among physicians who belong to an ethnic minority undergoing dramatic social and economic transition. The goal of this study was to explore the change of attitudes of Negev Bedouin physicians serving their community and their satisfaction with policy, care, and knowledge in the field of ID. Seventeen community physicians (7 Bedouins and 10 Jewish) were interviewed using a simple questionnaire that consisted of items measuring attitude and satisfaction. The vast majority of the Bedouin and Jewish physicians had positive attitudes toward inclusion of those in the community with ID and were ready to provide the care needed in the community with special assistance. There was a need for further education in ID and more resources. There was a belief that there is discrimination between the Bedouin and Jewish community in the provision of care to people with ID. General dissatisfaction was expressed about the policy, resources, care provision, and expertise offered to Bedouins with ID. More efforts must be directed to empower the physicians with knowledge, expertise, and resources to handle the care of Bedouins with ID in a culturally appropriate way.

This paper shows how consciousness-based holistic medicine can be used in the case of asthma, allergy, and eczema. We have many fine drugs to relieve patients from the worst of these symptoms, where many children and adults suffer health problems related to hyper-reactivity of the immune system. Many symptoms remain throughout life because the drugs do not cure the allergy and allergy today is the sixth leading cause of chronic illness. The etiology of the immune disturbances is mostly unknown from a biomedical perspective. Consciousness-based holistic medicine could therefore be used to treat these diseases if the patient is willing to confront hidden existential pain, is motivated to work hard, and is dedicated to improve quality of life, quality of working life, and personal relationships. Improving quality of life is not always an easy job for the patient, but it can be done with coaching from the physician. An increased physical health is often observed after only a few sessions with a physician skilled in using holistic medical tools and able to coach the patient successfully through a few weeks of dedicated homework. Children with allergy and asthma can also be helped if their parents are able to do work on personal development, to improve the general quality of life in the family and their relationship with the child.

The prevalence of chronic illness or disability in adolescence has increased in recent years. In the past, children with certain chronic diseases did not reach adolescence, but over the last decade the survival rate has increased manyfold. The old morbidity (infectious disease, poor housing, poverty, lack of immunisation) has been exchanged with a new morbidity of adolescence, where a longer life expectancy is followed by an increase in lifelong disability. This review discusses issues concerned with the definition of disability in adolescence, reviews prevalence studies in several countries, the causes of disability, disparities, access and expenditure of health care, psychosocial aspects, and how to promote better outcomes.

Leo Kanner described autism in 1943, and Hans Asperger described the syndrome in 1944. The term Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) was first used in the 1980s to describe a class of disorders that include (1) Autistic disorder, (2) Rett disorder or syndrome, (3) Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, (4) Asperger's disorder or syndrome, and (5) Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, or PDDNOS. Autism prevalence studies published before 1985 showed prevalence rates of 4 to 5 per 10,000 children for the broader autism spectrum, and about 2 per 10,000 for the classic autism definition. Since 1985 there have been higher rates of autism reported from several countries. From the UK a prevalence rate of 16.8 per 10,000 children for autistic disorder was reported, and 62.6 per 10,000 for the entire autistic spectrum disorders. Sweden reported a prevalence of 36 per 10,000 for Asperger and 35 per 10,000 for social impairment, or a total prevalence of 71 per 10,000 for suspected and possible cases. From the US, 40 per 10,000 in three to ten year old children for autistic disorder and 67 per 10,000 children for the entire autism spectrum was reported. From the north region in Israel for children born between 1989-93 in the Haifa area, an incidence rate of 10 per 10,000 was found for autism. In recent years concern has been shown about the possible increase in the prevalence of autistic spectrum disorders. Studies have shown an increase, but during these last twenty years diagnostic criteria and definition have also changed. Although many factors are at play, it is evident that there has been an increase.

Child homicide is as old as human history. It can be classified into intra- and extra familial child homicide. Different forms of homicide are discussed, and research findings show that in the age group 0-3 years the majority of cases were within the family. After age 12 years, it is primarily extra familial. With increased age of the child the phenomenon of child perpetrators is seen to be manifested in school homicide and juvenile crime. Risk factors are mentioned and pediatricians and family physicians should be aware of these in order to try preventive measures. Language: en

Teenage or adolescent pregnancy requires the extensive involvement of health care workers in respect to the medical and social aspects of pregnancy, delivery, and later care of both mother and child. Trends in adolescent pregnancy over the last few years from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom are presented and related to data from Israel. Adolescent pregnancy in Israel has been on the decline, but in 1999 it was still 3.4% of all live births (131,936 children) with more pregnancies in this group among the non-Jewish population (7.2%) than in the Jewish population (1.7%).

School violence has been a new research area since the 1980s, when Scandinavian and British researchers first focused on the subject. This violence has sometimes even resulted in murder. Since the late 1980s the World Health Organization (WHO) has conducted cross-national studies every fourth year on Health Behavior in School Aged Children (HBSC). Today 37 countries participate under the guidance of the WHO-European Office. The HBSC school-based survey is conducted with a nationally representative sample of 11, 13 and 15 year old school children in each country using a standard self-administrated questionnaire. The subject of bullying at school has been part of the questionnaire. Results from these surveys and studies in the United States and Israel are presented and it is hoped that the recent public debate and initiatives by the various government agencies will result in reduced school violence in the future.

To determine their health status, we studied 2,282 Israeli adults with intellectual disability who were at least 40 years of age and lived in residential care. Results showed that age is a significant factor in health status. The frequency of different disease categories (e.g., cardiovascular disease, cancer, and sensory impairments) increased significantly with age for both genders. Cardiovascular disease in this population was less prevalent when compared to the general population, suggesting that underdiagnosis of some diseases or conditions may be prevalent in this population. The patterns of organ-system morbidity with increasing age were similar to those in other studies conducted in several countries, suggesting that health status and outcomes could be independent of cultural factors.

Ancient scripture and paintings together with several medical reports on the effect of alcohol on the newborn over the past 300 years finally led to the description of the fetal alcohol syndrome in the 1970s by French and American research groups. Maternal alcohol abuse during pregnancy can result in the specific pattern of malformations and neurocognitive deficits characteristic of this syndrome. Diagnostic criteria and classifications have been developed and in the 1990s reports showed the long-term consequences for these children. In recent years several studies from different countries have shown that prenatal alcohol exposure will lead to life-long consequences on physical development, intellectual development, behavior, social development, occupation, independence, sexuality or sexual behavior and increased risk of suicidality. In this review of long-term observation studies we found that the prenatal exposure to alcohol have permanent and life-long damage, which impair both the social and occupational future of the person exposed with a need for life-long assistance in order for that person to function at an optimal level. Primary prevention and early intervention with general public health educational efforts seems to be the best way forward.