Child Health Day, 1998

Proclamation 7132 of October 5, 1998

Child Health Day, 1998

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

As caring parents and citizens, we must do all we can
to ensure that our children, our Nation's greatest
resource, lead safe and healthy lives. Today, thanks to
scientific breakthroughs and increased public
awareness, we have the ability to prevent many of the
childhood illnesses and disorders of the past. We have
raised immunization rates to an all-time high, ensured
that prescription drugs will be adequately tested for
children, conducted research to help protect children
from environmental health risks, and established
protections so that mothers can stay in hospitals with
their newborns until they and their doctors decide they
are ready to leave. Although we can be heartened by
these important achievements, we must do more if we are
to overcome the many health challenges our children
still face.

Recent studies show that children without health
insurance are more likely to be sick as newborns, less
likely to be immunized, and less likely to receive
treatment for recurring illnesses. One of the great
accomplishments of my Administration has been the
creation of the Children's Health Insurance Program
(CHIP), which I called for in my 1997 State of the
Union and signed into law just a year ago. CHIP
provides $24 billion to help States offer affordable
health insurance to children in eligible working
families--the single largest investment in children's
health since the passage of Medicaid in 1965. CHIP will
provide health care coverage, including prescription
drugs, and vision, hearing, and mental health services,
to as many as 5 million uninsured children; and in its
first year, nearly four out of five States already are
participating in CHIP. We are also working hard to
identify and enroll in Medicaid the more than 4 million
children who are currently eligible to receive health
care through that program but are not enrolled. The
challenge before us now is to realize the promise of
CHIP and Medicaid by reaching out to families to inform
them of their options for health care coverage.

Due to recent breakthroughs in medical knowledge, we
know that the decisions we make even before our
children are born can have a significant impact on
their future health. That is why we are committed to
fighting, among other afflictions, the tragic
consequences of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. In this
country, thousands of infants are born each year
suffering from the physical and mental effects of this
disorder. Because its effects are devastating, causing
permanent damage, the simplest and best measure that
expectant mothers can take for the safety of their
babies is to abstain from drinking alcohol throughout
their pregnancies.

As part of my Administration's ongoing efforts to
protect our children from the effects of alcohol and
other substance abuse, Secretary of Health and Human
Services Donna Shalala recently announced a new
campaign, ``Your Time--Their Future,'' to recruit
adults to help children and adolescents develop healthy
and useful skills and interests. Research shows that
the guidance and example of caring adults can play an
important part in helping young people resist the
attraction of alcohol and other harmful or illegal
substances.

To acknowledge the importance of our children's health,
the Congress, by joint resolution approved May 18,
1928, as amended (36 U.S.C. 143), has called for the
designation of the first Monday in October as ``Child
Health Day'' and has requested the President to issue a
proclamation in observance of this day.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim Monday,
October 5, 1998, as Child Health Day. I call upon
families, schools, communities, and governments to
dedicate themselves to protecting the health and well-
being of all our children.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-third.