[The role of community-based public health services in child and adolescent health in Germany].

Children and adolescents increasingly show health-related problems which may not be considered as diseases to be treated but nevertheless severely affect academic performance and social behaviour. Regarding the consequences, e.g. from the PISA study, the significance of health problems and their negative impact on academic success are still not sufficiently taken into account. The tasks of paediatric public health services include: (1) health promotion in schools and kindergartens, (2) preventive and other medical checkups in kindergartens and schools to detect the individual needs of children and adolescents for support, (3) reducing the risk of long-term damage in handicapped or retarded children and adolescents by seeking out these children where necessary, and (4) advising the political decision makers by reporting on the population's health and social situation. The main aim is to provide children with special needs with what they need in order to prevent them, especially those whose parents cannot ensure this support themselves, developing a deeper disturbance, or to make sure that these young people are able to participate in social life and to integrate into society in spite of health problems or handicaps. To achieve these goals and to improve the health of children and adolescents, a community-based paediatric public health service has to cooperate with other institutions such as youth authorities, social welfare, education authorities, schools and other local institutions with an input into the health of children and adolescents.