OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3143, 28 July 1917, Page 5

OUR BABIES

TBr HYGErA.I

Published uftder the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and ! Children. "It is wiser to put up a fei\ce at tho | top of a precipice than to maintain an | ambulance at tho bottom." i INFANT WIiLPAUE OONLTvUIvNOK IX MELIiOUKNK. Last month an important conference was called. by tho Minister of Health for Victoria. and held in Melbourne Town Hall. Tho object of the conference was to discuss questions bearing on motherhood infant welfare, and in infant mortality, with a special view to the establishment of baby clinics. -\6 OTHERS SEE US. Miss Primrose, the honorary organising secretary of tho Visiting Trained. Nurses' Association, pave <111 address on what is "being done in Now Zealand by the Plunket tiociety. Tho following is a summary of tho remarks:— Remarks on the Phmliet Socicty. I should like to say a few words about the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children. This Society _ has inaugurated a scheme for saving infant life, and has carried it out so successfully during the past 10 ycary that New Zealand holds the record in the countries of the world for a low rate of infautilo mortality. Iu the New- Zealand schcmc thrco great principles aro recoguiscd and acted upon: Principles. First.—That a system for saving child life, to fulfil its mission adequately, must bo diametrically opposed to charity In any shape or form. Second.—That education of tho people on infant hygiene must ho brought about by systematic teaching: of all classes. Third.—That simple, rel'abTc standards must bo drawn up and adopted for guidance in the rearing of normal infants. [Memo, by "Hygeia."—While tl» above is an excelleut summary of tho leading principles of the society, I feel bound to mention here that tho first of all our aims and objects is to do everything in our power to promote universal breastfeeding. Tho society's book says:— A woman's milk is not her own. It is created for tho baby, and the first duty of the mother is to ensure, by foresight, a proper supply of the only perfect food—the bab*'« birthright.! With regard to tho first principle, at tlio confcrcnco 3ield at, Wellington in July, 1914, it was distinctly stated: "That the society is engaged in a voluntary educational health mission to all classes alike, which has nothing whatever to do with tho charitable aid organisations of tho Dominion." And iu tho courso of an address at tho same conference tho general president said:— We know that we get home with this health mission better by appealing in the first jjlaco to the most intelligent and to tho most highly receptive members of tho community than we should •»f we restricted our appeal to those of lesser intelligence. We know that, members of tho society, having gained knowledge themselves, infect their neighbours and friends directly and through the instrumentality of the Phmket Nurses, and thus tend to loven the whole population, partly by precept and partly by example. Tho society has established branches throughout New Zealand. These branches aro presided over by local cxecutivo committees, numbering from fifteen to thirty members each, and embrace a very largo and influential membership roll. With. regard to tho Rccond principle— tho Education of tho People—certificated hospital nurses arc specially trained for this work by a further courso of from thrco to Bix months in the Karitane Harris Hospital—a hospital dovoted to babies and the toaching of mothenjraft. There the nurses learn every detail'* of infant hygleno and feeding, and iu the part of 'their coursu outside the hospital, beforo they are eligible for examination asPlunket nurses, they arc taught how' to help mothers in their own homes. These nurses work in harmony with the health officers of its many, centres and branches. The society is looked to by all classes and by the Government Itself as tho recognised authority and referee in New "Zealand on the.domestic aspect of infant welfare. Embraced in this scheme of education is the systematic teaching In schools, the periodical delivery of popular illustrated lectures by leading mem* hers* of the medical profession, and tho distribution of a largo number of books and pamphlcto. Tho co-operation of the Press also is of inestimablo value, as T>y this means a weekly article supplied by tho society appears in newspapers throughout the Dominion under tho heading, "Our Babies' doluran," aud some arc disiViMited. Through the agency of the Press iu this wny almost every home is reached, even those in the remotest parts of the Dominion. With regard to the third principle, that simple, reliable, consistent standards must be drawn up and atlopted Tor guidance In the rearing oF normal infants, I may say that in New Zealand such a standard has been fixed, and is adhered to throughout the Dominion; but, of course, the details do not come within the scope of theso re- i nmrtos. /Those arc the outstanding points in the 'scheme that obtains In. New Zealand, and which., in the short spaco of ten years, has so greatly reduced the infant mortality there. "Proposal to Adopt the Lines of the Plunkefc System." I to suggest, my Lord Mayor, that tho representatives of different'organisations who arc here, and who are so deeply interested this vital question of saving infant life, might formulate a scheme on the same broad, comprehensive lines, so that by a great united effort every baby born in the State may have the start in life necessary for full and perfect development.