Of the 9 million deaths/yr that occur in children <5yrs, 3.6 million occur in the 1st month of life and 70% of the others are caused by acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea, measles, and malaria, +/− malnutrition. Most very sick children present with clinical features of more than one diagnosis; ∴ a single diagnosis at admission is often impossible. In many low-resource settings, there may be no paediatrician and sick children are managed by non-specialists. Deaths in hospitals often occur within the first 24h, so sick children need to be identified on arrival, and appropriate treatment instituted. The Emergency Triage Assessment and Treatment (ETAT) strategy, advocated by WHO, is a rapid screening process to identify children who require immediate treatment to avert death and long-term morbidity. Treatment of sick children must never be on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. WHO has published guidelines for the management of common childhood illnesses (second edition 2013), available online (see Box 1.1)