CHILD WELFARE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 70, 19 September 1930, Page 9

CHILD WELFARE

THE "DAMAGE" RATE.

CONFERENCE AT HOME

THE NATIONAL COUNCIL

(From "The Post's" Representation).) LONDON, 29th July.

In her address to the Conference on Maternity and Child Welfare, Miss Susan Lawrence, M.P. (Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health) reminded the delegates that in 1905, when such work began to be fostered by a National[Council; infant mortality was 128 P« 100°.; « 1929 it had fallen to 74. The tale of the saving of infant life was one of the most magnificent and encouraging in all public servics. ■ • • "We have had partial success in saving the lives of infants over one month ow, but we have not had the same success in saving the lives of the younger infants. Our successes have been patchy. Wo have not achieved so much a general lowering of the mortality rate aa *a spectacular lowering of the rate in certain districts. "There are still black spots where the rate is considerably in excess of the average and where a great deal remains to be done. It may fairly be claimed that the maternity and cliild welfare work of local authorities and voluntary bodies is largely responsible for the saving of infant lives that has been achieved." . Stressing the need for education m the subject of child welfare, Miss Lawrence said that there were still many .mothers who thought that the old rules of thumb were best. Clinics must be established, and women who attended them must carry the knowledge to their friends and get them to go too. :

Mrs. C. B. S. Hodson, honorary administrative secretary of the International federation of Eugenic Organisations, said that it was pretty clear that we had not yet evidence that the saving of infant mortality, as such, involved a saving in the damage" rate. It had been stated that the number of children who entered London schools and who were Al had actually dropped. Ten per cent, of the population was mentally subnormal, and the opinion had been expressed that the,reason for this was that we had been saving the lives of 40,000 babies per year. Of ceurse, everything possible must be done to save life, but it might be that we were putting off to the last possible limit the date at which aii unhealthy constitution would, and must, collapse. Here was where the concrete birth control programme came iv. Contrary to popular opinion, birth control would come into its own less as a population method than as a medical one. It would be the means, under the guidance of the medical adviser, by which a woman would space her family so that she could keep her own health and give the maximum health to her children. A more difficult problem was how to prevent tbe handing on o£ a poor constitution and bad health of mind or body. The remedy lay in sterilisation. A simple medical operation made it possible for the patient to live his or her idle life in freedom and comfort without *ny danger of handing ou infirmities to afl offspring.