Medical Care of Children during the Golden Age of Islamic Medicine

During the Sassanid Empire in Persia (226–652 AD), there was a renaissance of humanistic sciences, including medicine, in the city of Gondi-Shapur. When the Islamic center of power moved to Baghdad in about 750 AD, physicians of Gondi-Shapur, including the dean of the medical school (a Nestorian Christian), gradually moved to Baghdad constructing hospitals and medical schools. Aided by the Persian and Nestorian Christians, the Islamic civilization ushered in what is considered to be the Golden Age of Islam from the 8th to 13th century AD. During this period, there were remarkable achievements in humanistic sciences including medicine by many physicians/authors whose medical textbooks were used for centuries in burgeoning medical schools in Europe. The medical texts written during the Golden Age of Islamic Medicine contain sections and chapters about the clinical conditions, diseases and medical care of children. It was during this era that the first treatise was written on the diseases of children and their care. This essay will describe, in brief, the writings about the conditions and diseases of children and their medical care, by three prominent Persian physicians of the Golden Age of Islamic Medicine: 1) Abubakr Muhammad Ibn Zakaria Razi, Rhazes (865-925 AD); 2) Ali ibn-al-Abbas al-Majusi or Haly Abbas (949–994 AD); and 3) Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah ibn Sina or Avicenna (980–1037 AD).