ABSTRACT
The development of special care for newborn infants and the recent application of advanced technology now used in intensive neonatal care units have their origins far back in history. Such topical issues as the methods of care of the pre-term infant and of sick full-term babies have been debated in the writings of philosphers, teachers and physicians for at least 3,000 years and there is archaeological and anthropological evidence that these were matters of concern in even earlier millennia.
