Introduction-Pediatric guidelines emphasize the importance for healthcare providers to view children in the context of family and community, and promote community resources at visits. In 2006, a Family Help Desk (FHD) was established in an urban academic-based clinic in Baltimore, MD to assist healthcare providers in educating families about available community-based resources.Methods-A longitudinal cohort pilot study was conducted during a 6-week period in 2007 to evaluate the impact of the FHD in connecting at-risk families to community resources.Results-Overall, 6% of parents (n = 59) who brought their child for a scheduled clinic visit accessed the FHD. Parents had a mean of 1.7 social needs, including after-school programs and childcare (29%), employment (13%), housing (12%), and food (11%). Most parents who utilized the FHD (64%) contacted a community resource or service within 6 months of their clinic visit. Nineteen parents (32%) who utilized the FHD enrolled in community programs.Conclusion-A clinic-based multi-disciplinarymodel can empower families to connect with community-based resources for basic social needs.Practice implications-The Family Help Deskmodel has great potential for addressing family psychosocial needs, and educating families about community resources within the context of pediatric primary care.

With a third of Pakistan inundated by the floods that have affected more than 33 million people, local relief workers and public health experts have said that they are fearing a rise in several waterborne and mosquito-borne diseases and skin infections. 1 2

As covid-19 takes hold worldwide, fear is fuelling already entrenched religious hatred—and hindering public health, writes Sonia Sarkar

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Sri Lanka’s sudden economic collapse has broken its healthcare system. Sonia Sarkar reports on how the country might claw back years of progress, lost in months