SPOTTING potential health problems in children at the earliest possible stage is, like prevention, the best cure.

And, as Bolton health expert Dr Robert Aston rightly points out, parents are the best people to know when something is wrong with their child.

Wigan and Bolton Health Authority's scheme to send out special information packs to every primary school in Bolton is, therefore, the right move for a healthier future.

The packs contain information on highly contagious conditions and potentially fatal illnesses like meningitis, tuberculosis and dysentery.

As well as this, they have included other useful facts and advice on those basic worries which concern parents, like head lice and good food hygiene practices.

When school begins again next month, pupils will be given the packs to take home. The thinking behind the scheme is that by arming parents with information it will prevent them from panicking unnecessarily, and also help fight both major and minor health problems.

A child's health is of paramount concern to parents, and there are certain key words which strike fear into their hearts. Meningitis and tuberculosis are certainly two of those and it makes sense to ensure that carers have the correct facts and advice.

Sometimes, though, it is the so-called minor ailments which can also ruin lives. Head-lice can blight a child's -- and a whole family's -- life, automatically attached as the condition is (wrongly, as it happens) to the suggestion that domestic hygiene is at fault.

Ignorance is the way that prejudice, illness and even social trauma can exist. Education is the way to tackle them, and we congratulate the health authority on this forward-thinking, thoroughly sensible move.