Research in the mid-1980s on the effects of prenatal drug abuse characterized cocaine-exposed children as moody, inconsolable, less socially interactive and less able to bond than other children. It was concluded that these conditions were irreversible. However, methodological problems in these early studies, combined with the fact that cocaine-using mothers abuse other drugs as well, has left the research and public health communities uncertain as to the cause and effect relationship between cocaine use and pre//postnatal consequences.

Cocaine-Exposed Infants examines what is known about...

Research in the mid-1980s on the effects of prenatal drug abuse characterized cocaine-exposed children as moody, inconsolable, less socially interactive and less able to bond than other children. It was concluded that these conditions were irreversible. However, methodological problems in these early studies, combined with the fact that cocaine-using mothers abuse other drugs as well, has left the research and public health communities uncertain as to the cause and effect relationship between cocaine use and pre//postnatal consequences.

Cocaine-Exposed Infants examines what is known about...

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Brazil ranked second only to the United States in the number of reported cases of AIDS. Because Brazil's extensive poverty and inequality, its fragile economic situation, and its limited network of health services, the scarce prevention/intervention resources targeted only the most visible at risk populations -- gay men, sailors, prostitutes, and street children. Virtually forgotten were Brazil's hidden drug users, as well as the tens of millions of individuals living in the country's thousands of favelas, or shantytowns, which are a...