OUR BABIES.
TBI HIMIA.I Published under tho auspices of th« So-, 6i#ty for. the Health of 'Women Children. . , ."It U witar to put up «• /eno» the top »f » preoipios than to nuinUln aniDu. lanoe at the bottom." DR. KING'S LECTURE.—(Continued.) THE PLUNKET NURSES. Certificated hospital nurses who have undergone training in the institution, followed by an outside courso among the community, are eligible for examination at tho end of from three to six months, with a view to appointment ns "Plunket nurses," tho namo given to our nursos owing to tho devoted part played by Lady Plunket, and our late Governor, Lord Plunket, who did everything in their power while in New Zealand' to oncouragc, support, and build up the society. Indeed, tho, original branches in the North Island wore formed and organised by Lady Plunket herself, and' her untiring enthusiasm and personal practical teaching wore great factors in the success of the society s health mission throughout the Dominion. . . .J In tho part of their course outside tho institution the nurses are taught how to help mothers of all classes tactfully in their own homes. They, learu to apprehend rapidly the best place for tho bad.v's bed; the best method of ventilating any -room with the means at hand; where to keep., and the best way to safeguard, milk in cach of the homes; and the numberless simple practical points in household arrangement and management, which, added to-
A SMART VISITING COSTUME. gether, make all tho difference to the baby, the 'difference between health and debility or actual sickness. 1 REDUCTION OF DEATH-RATE.' Although the infantile death-rate ill New Zealand was originally ono of the most favourable in the world, and wo were told only a few years ago that it could not be appreciably lowered, the results have proved otherwise. To ■ quote from this year's report of the Dunedin branch of the society:— Tho Society for the Health'of Women and Children was founded just fivo years ago. Taking the seven years, from 1900 to 1907, tho average deathrato among cliildren under one year in Dunedin and .suburbs was 8 per cent. For the last five years the average.has been 6} per cent, the last three years 6 per cent.; for the last two years 5 per cent; and for the last year 4 per cent. If the infantile death-rate for the whole Dominion were similarly reduced from 8 per cent, to 4 per cent, it would moan a saving of nearly 900 lives every year. But that is not all. One must re'ntember that reduction in tho infantile death-rate involves a reduction in the death-rate among older cliildren also; indeed, looking ahead, it means a lower death-rate throughout tho whole community. The following table shows how many children die in the first year of life for every 100 born in the following- places: ( percent. St, Petersburg and Moscow (1910) 23 Vienna (1910) .' 17 Berlin (1910) : 1?J Glasgow (1910) 14 Paris (1910) 1 12 : • London (1910) 10 1-3 Stockholm and Christiana (1910) 8} Dunedin (average infantile mor- . talitv for seven years— 1900-07) 8 Dunedin (average infantile mortality for last fivo years— 1907-12) . 6i Dunedin (average infantile mortality for last three years— 1909-12) 6 Dunedin (average infantile mortality for two years*— 1910-12) 5 Dunedin (average infantile mortality for last year—l9ll-12} 4 These figures for Dunedin, and periods, are reckoned to April, the original close of the society's year, not to tho end of the official year. The reason for contrasting a grnun of yearß instead of giving merely individual years for Dunedin is to show the stable and sustained d'olincd in the infantile deathrate from 1907 onward. The fall would have appeared moro striking had the four later periods been compared, not with the average of the preceding seven years, but only with the year 1907, when tbo death rate was 9J per cent.; but this contrast been misleading. Note th" extreme range of infantilo mortality from tho death within a year of moro than a qunrter of tho children horn in St. Petersburg and Moscow to the death of only ono in 25 for Dunedin. The figures are almost as striking it taken for countries instead of cities. Thus, the latest annual statistics available show that out of 1000 children horn there died in tho first year of life: In Russian, about 250 In Germany and Austria, about 175 In England and Wales (for 1910) 117 In Norway (1908) '8 New Zealand (1911) 56
Next to New Zealand, tho Norwegian infantile deatk-rato 's the lowest in tho world. ' This is attributed to the fact hat in Norwav nearly all babies arc suoklcd. Tho Registrar-General for tho Dominion, referring to a comprehensive worldwido statistical table given in the latest Official Year Book for New Zealand, says:—"This table, giving tho rates of infantile mortality in various countries and cities, shows that as regards tho preservation of infant life far better conditions obtain in New Zealand than olsowhcre. . "But tho society is less concerned in reducing tho death rate than in improving the health of the people. As a health society we are more interested in firmly establishing tho all-round fitness of tlio 24,000 or 25,000 annual new arrivals who will live than wo are in reducing tho potential deaths from 2000 to 1000. ' However, the problems are n-timatcly related, sineo tho 6implo hygienic measures which tend to prevent death in babyhood are also the measures which lay tho foundations of strong, healthy minds in sound, enduring bodies for thoso who survivo to be our futuro men and women." In dealing with our infantilo statistics I have not entered into the part played by iftctors other than tho society s work, because that would bo beyond tho scope of my paper; but in nil exhaustive consideration of-tho. subject one would have to take into account other aspects of tlio work of the Public Health Department-, including the establishment of maternity, hospitals, etc. The society strongly disapproves of the use of-' artificial foods as a. substitute for mother's or humanised milk. Full directions for the preparation of the latter are contained in the society s published pamphlet entitled "What Baby Needs."'
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Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1966, 24 January 1914, Page 13
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1,028OUR BABIES. Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1966, 24 January 1914, Page 13
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