Because ill-clothed, sick, or hungry migrant children learn poorly, the Task Force has emphasized the migrant health situation in 1979. Migrant workers have a 33% shorter life expectancy, a 25% higher infant mortality rate, and a 25% higher death rate from tuberculosis and other communicable diseases than the national average. Common among farmworkers, diabetes and hypertension are chronic problems requiring continuous medical care, which is unsatisfied by the fragmented nature of available health services. While not intentional, migrant child neglect is often evident, usually resulting from parental lack of knowledge or resources. Handicapped children remain officially unidentified and unaided because family mobility precludes program eligibility. Among the prime causes of migrant health problems are poor living conditions which are not improved by the often anachronistic relationship between grower and worker. Appropriations are meager for the large migrant health program and complicated eligibility requirements routinely exclude migrants from available Title XIX and XX services. Basically there is little in the way of migrant health resources, insurance, or policy leadership. The Task Force recommends establishing a national task force on migrant health, providing Migrant Student Record Transfer System (MSRTS) health records to physicians and clinics to promote service continuity, and initiating a needs assessment for exceptional children. (SB)