The updated pocketbook is for use by doctors, nurses and other health workers who are responsible for the care of young children at the first level referral hospitals with basic laboratory facilities and inexpensive medicines in low-resource countries. It compiles updated WHO guidelines and focuses on inpatient management of children who are severely ill with conditions that are major causes of childhood mortality, such as neonatal illness, pneumonia, diarrhoea, fever (mainly malaria, meningitis and septicaemia), severe acute malnutrition and HIV/AIDS. It also includes guidance on common surgical problems, appropriate supportive care and monitoring of patients on the ward. It is consistent with the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) guidelines for outpatient management of sick children.