Chronic conditions are health conditions that continue over a long period of time,

often for life. Although the terms "chronic condition" and "chronic illness" may be used
interchangeably, a person with a chronic condition may or may not be unwell from day to
day.
Chronic conditions vary widely. Some examples of chronic childhood conditions
include allergies, asthma, hearing loss, diabetes, seizures, cerebral palsy, cancer, spina bifida,
and HIV/AIDS. A child might be diagnosed with a single chronic condition or multiple
conditions. For example, children born premature and very low birth weight may have
multiple conditions such as developmental delays, cerebral palsy, and asthma.
Children's symptoms of chronic conditions can range from mild to severe. They may
need few or many adaptations in daily activities. For example, a child with allergies and
asthma might be well on a daily basis with only seasonal episodes requiring treatment;
whereas a child with diabetes might need daily medication and monitoring of diet, exercise,
symptoms, and blood sugar levels.
The course of chronic conditions can also vary over time. A chronic condition may
stay the same or change, either getting better or worse, over time. For example, a child's
visual impairment from birth might be stable over time; a child successfully treated for
leukemia might go into remission; and a child with HIV disease might progress from having
no symptoms to frequent illnesses.
If a child in Head Start has a chronic condition, find out what you need to know to
care for the child and support the family. You don't need to become a medical expert. But you
do need detailed information on the child's condition and daily care needs. Simply knowing a
child's diagnosis doesn't explain all you need to know to care for the child. For example, one
child with a seizure disorder might be well-controlled on medication and never have a seizure
or need special accommodations in Head Start, whereas another child with the same
diagnosis might have frequent seizures and require many accommodations. And remember,
too, that knowing a child's diagnosis doesn't tell you who that child isher favorite color,
food, book, song, or game.
Like any other child, the child with a chronic condition is a unique individual. Head
Start's responsibility is to get to know each child and family and to individualize the child's
care.
Source :
"Understanding
Chronic
Conditions
[Key
Concepts,
Background
Information]." Caring for Children with Chronic Conditions. Training Guides for the
Head Start Learning Community. HHS/ACF/ACYF/HSB. 1998. English. Available at
http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/health/physical-health/educationactivities/health_lea_00223_070605.html

One of the greatest challenges that will face health systems globally in the twenty-first
century will be the increasing burden of chronic diseases (WHO 2002). Greater longevity,
modernization of lifestyles, with increasing exposure to many chronic disease risk factors, and
the growing ability to intervene to keep people alive who previously would have died have
combined to change the burden of diseases confronting health systems.
Chronic conditions are defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as requiring
ongoing management over a period of years or decades and cover a wide range of health
problems that go beyond the conventional definition of chronic illness, such as heart disease,
diabetes and asthma. They include some communicable diseases, such as the human
immunodeficiency virus and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), that have
been transformed by advances in medical science from rapidly progressive fatal conditions into
controllable health problems, allowing those affected to live with them for many years. They also
extend to certain mental disorders such as depression and schizophrenia, to defined disabilities
and impairments not defined as diseases, such as blindness and musculoskeletal disorders (WHO
2002), and to cancer, the subject of a separate volume published by the European Observatory
(Coleman et al. 2008). While others have offered different definitions for chronic illness (Conrad
and Shortell 1996; Unwin et al. 2004), the common theme is that these conditions require a
complex response over an extended time period that involves coordinated inputs from a wide
range of health professionals and access to essential medicines and monitoring systems, all of
which need to be optimally embedded within a system that promotes patient empowerment.

Source :
Nolte, Ellen & McKee, Martin. 2008. Caring for people with chronic conditions, A health
system perspective. Health System and Policies Series. European Observatory: USA