George Frederic Still studied pediatrics and childhood conditions in England during the early twentieth century. In Still’s time, pediatrics, or the branch of medicine that focuses on treating and caring for children, remained largely unexplored according to biographer Joseph deBettencourt. Still helped advance pediatrics as a field by classifying and writing about diseases and conditions that arose in children. In 1897, he discovered a unique type of arthritis in children, now referred to as Still’s disease. Still also was one of the first to correctly describe what is now known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, a disorder that can cause children to act impulsively and have trouble focusing, among other behaviors. He shared his understanding of those conditions and pediatrics as a whole in a popular textbook called Common Disorders and Diseases of Childhood. Still’s work helped establish pediatrics as a separate field of medicine and provide a foundation for pediatricians throughout the twentieth century to understand and expand on a variety of conditions developing children can face.

In 2008, the Palestinian Ministry of Health published the Mother and Child Health Handbook, herafter the Handbook, to help improve health outcomes for pregnant women in the West Bank and Gaza, Palestine. The Handbook is a portable health record and information booklet that women can use to record and track health information from pregnancy through early childhood and across health providers. It includes templates for recording health data as well as information on proper growth milestones and healthy lifestyle choices. Each woman receives one Handbook during her pregnancy. Development of the Handbook occurred during a time when pregnant women were unable to access health facilities or receive necessary care due to regional conflicts. Since the Palestinian Ministry of Health began distributing the Handbook in Palestine in 2008, maternal and infant mortality rates have diminished around 46% and 35%, respectively, supporting the idea that providing women with basic prenatal and postnatal health information is an effective intervention for improving maternal and infant health.