Preconception care: a good beginning

Recent years have seen increasing attention focused on preconception care as a means of promoting the health of prospective parents and their children. It was this trend, together with the persistence of relatively high perinatal mortality in the Netherlands, that prompted the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport to request that the Health Council produce an advisory report on preconception care.
The Minister asked the Council to review the current level of knowledge concerning preconception care. He also wished to know to what extent the available knowledge is already being applied, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere. A further question raised was which specific requirements a programme of preconception care would need to meet. Finally, the Minister asked the Health Council to investigate how one might reach the maximum possible number of parents-to-be, what professional groups and other bodies would need to be involved, and what ethical considerations arise in connection with preconception care.