Most of the stamps with a paediatric or health interest are commemorative issues—that is, stamps which are released to mark a particular event and available for a short period of time (usually only months). Definitive stamps are stamps used routinely for postage and are available for long periods of time (often years) without design alteration. It is unusual to find a definitive stamp with a health interest. The 1/2d Bahamas stamp is one such example and shows the infant welfare clinic. This formed part of the island's definitve sets from 1948 to 1965. Originally issued in 1948 with the portrait of King George VI, it was the first value in the definitive set of 16 covering the cost of postage from 1/2d to £1. The design was changed in 1954 to the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. The stamp appeared a third time in 1964 when this definitive set was overprinted “New Constitution 1964” as illustrated here. The new definitives subsequently issued in 1965 did not include the infant welfare clinic.

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