CONSERVING LIFE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 73, 23 September 1930, Page 9

CONSERVING LIFE

ACTIVITY IN CANADA

MOTHERS AND CHILDREN

(From "The Post's", Representative.) VAHCOTJVEB, 20th August.

For some years past, Canada has been making a determined bid to emulate the remarkable success achieved by New Zealand in reducing infantile mortality. Excellent results have been attained, and the work is still being carried on actively by public and private organisations. ! The problem is still acute, chiefly due to the vastnesa of tho country and the severity of the winter. Last year, of 232,205 children born in Canada, 7091 were still-born; 23,671 died before their first birthday; 30,973 died before they reached five years; 9000 mothers died in childbirth. .

In the outlying districts, the Full Time Health. Union is a factor in improving the chances of infant to survive tho difficult first years of life. Quebec is noted for these units, which aie off the beaten track, in communities that have not up-to-dato hospital and medical comforts. Usually a ' small community taxes itself voluntarily to engage the services of a doctor, a nurse, a sanitary engineer, and a secretary, together with equipment within their means. The territory of snch a unit varies to suit the needs of different localities. Where there is a permanent logging outfit, the organisation is carried on byl the lumber company, s pplemented by contributions from employees. Quebec shows good returns for this health service. In one unit the infantile mortality dropped from 213 to 160 in a year. Deaths from adult sickness fell from 643 to 487, and deaths from contagious disease from 87 to 27. Three small outlying units reduced tho number of deaths from 147 to 79.

Alberta has a system of travelling clinics, which co-operate with local units. The clinic includes a doctor, dentist, and nurse. The school, community hall, or oven tho church is turned into a temporary assembly point for tho clinic at the time of its visit. These clinics arc . showing remarkable results, especially among unprivileged children in the backblocks. Their ultimate aim is to have every man, woman, and child in the back country examined at least onee1 a "yea* by, a. doctor and a dentist)