The maternal and child health strategy for the Caribbean Community came into being as a result of the deliberations of a Technical Group Meeting held in Antigua in 1975. Eight years later, in 1983, at a similiar meeting in Barbados, THE STRATEGY underwent its first revision. This was largely influenced by the universal drive towards Primary Health Care, spearheaded by the World Health Organization and other leading health institutions and agencies. In the decade that followed, health systems were virtually forced into re-thinking their strategies in the light of the "change and decay" of this period; unfavourable trends in global and national economies; crises in the financing of health care; the AIDS bombshell, alarming social problems related to child abuse and drug abuse; all occurring side by side with remarkable advances in medical technology; communications and management systems, and the promotion of healthier lifestyles. It was not surprising, therefore, that by 1992 the time had come for a further revision of THE STRATEGY. This was done by a select group of Caribbean professionals in MCH and related fields, supported by the staff of key agencies viz. PAHO, UNICEF and the University of the West Indies. This process was facilitated by the findings and recommendations contained in a report on the Assessment of the Maternal and Child Health Programme in the English-speaking Caribbean carried out under the auspicies of PAHO in March-April 1992. That Technical Group Meeting was held in Barbados, October 27-29, 1992 as a regional activity of the Project STRENGTHENING MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH SERVICES IN THE CARIBBEAN, funded by the GOVERNMENT OF ITALY. THE STRATEGY was reviewed in draft form by the Caribbean MCH Coordinators at their fifth meeting held in Jamaica in April 1993. The recommendations of this group have been incorporated in the current version