INFANT MORTALITY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 27, 27 October 1920, Page 7

INFANT MORTALITY

j c DOMINION'S GREAT LOSS MINISTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH EXERCISED m PLIGHT OF YOUNG MOTHERS IS, — Some outspoken comments on the state of the public health of tho community \ were made by the Minister of Public Health (the Hon. C. J. Parr) at tho ; n public meeting held last evening, under e( j tho auspices of the New Zealand branch of the British ll«d Cross and Order of iU St. John. , 11( Although favoured as wo were by cli;s! inatic conditions, all was not well, said le the Minister, with the health of the community. Fad it occurred to us, he asked, that over 40 per cent, of the tid men of military ago in New Zealand n- had been rejected for active service as m being medically unfit? "Has it occurred of to us," he continued, "that 15,000 young lie children under the age of 14 years, died of during tho four years of the_ war; that l's we lost in -infant mortality—largely 't - preventable and largely due to. ignorance *1 —as many young lives as we lost on the >y battlefield? These matters give the com'k munity cause for thought, and if your r ' two great organisations can only join 16 up with Dr. Truby King and our Infant Welfare Department dining the next e * year; if you will only go to his lectures ! e 'which are to be held throughout the !? country, and induce others to attend, you „ will in so doing do a great work in this J. connection. rs An Ever-Pressing Anxiety. a " "There is another direction in which I in beg tho assistance of the Hed Cross >n particular. It is my duty to go to ot. Helens Hospitals in 'Ms Country. talking to young mothers I hnd that tho ever-pressing anxiety of th«e young mothers is the little home—the home of husband and a little family-they left u to enter the hospital. It is their e\w- " pressing anxiety that these young mothers should be, freed from during their hours of tiouble. There is no one to look after their home. Why ' not organise a guild of servants to obtain their services' to help se 3' OU 6 n mothera in tlioir hour of need? t- population, and w.e can have no better y population that children of our young stock, but in order to get tiat you must look after your mothers better than_ jou do to-day. Help these people in the hour of need. I can promise that I will assist you.. We can train the necessary women in our Domestic Science College, . and in our technical colleges. They I should have a in llorm and a bad,«. Raise the status of these peoplo to that ' nf a nurse. Why not? Hero is youi • chance .. . Why not organise a society of skilled housewives available to go to these homes to look after the little one.. I leave the thought with you and I eel sure that my colleagues on tho - mrnif would help AVith a subsidy, .aid m . of v;omcn for this great service. (Api plause.) ________________