This chapter presents a conceptual model to help understand the variables that play a role in the complex scenario of child neglect in poor communities in developing countries, their social marginalization, and their seclusion from the health care available to them. Communicable diseases are an important public health problem linked to poverty and other harsh socio-economic conditions. Traditional interventions against communicable diseases, such as educational programmes, are important, but they will have limited success in peri-urban areas because of the marginalization that exists, associated with unwanted and neglected children.