The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) seeks to ensure that every individual is born healthy, is born wanted, and has the opportunity to fulfil his or her potential for a productive life unhampered by disease or disability. The Institute further strives to help parents have the children they want, at the times they want them, and to ensure that every mother experiences a pregnancy free of adverse complications. Key to the success of this mission is answering the fundamental questions of how a single fertilized cell eventually develops into a fully functional adult human being and how a multitude of genetic and environmental factors influence that process for good or ill. Programs at the NICHD are based on the concepts that adult health and well-being are determined in large part by episodes early in life, sometimes before birth; that human development is continuous throughout life; and that optimal outcomes of development are important not only to the individual but to society. NICHD research is also directed toward restoring or maximizing individual potential and functional capacity when disease, injury, or a chronic disorder intervenes in the developmental process. Thus, the NICHD mission truly spans the life cycle, and much of the health and well-being of our population depends on the success of the Institute’s research.

During 1998 and 1999, the NICHD staff engaged the scientific community in jointly developing a strategic plan to facilitate achieving its mission. The initial framework document for this plan, From Cells to Selves, highlighted four areas for immediate strategic development and described a series of scientific goals under each area. This is one of four areas was as follows: Reproductive Health for the 21st Century comprises the biological and behavioural factors that allow couples to have healthy children when they want them and the reproduction-related conditions that may affect women during and after their reproductive years.