MEDICAL CONFERENCE

Hokitika Guardian, 21 February 1929, Page 2

MEDICAL CONFERENCE

PUBLIC HEALTH

WELLINGTON, Feb. 20,

Dr M. H. Watt, Deputy-Director-General of Health, chairman of the Preventive Medicine section of the conference, read a paper on public health progress. In a survey of the past halfcentury he showed that New Zealand had reason to be proud of its health condition when compared with that of other countries. “The present conference,” said Dr Watt, “is a definite landmark in the history of public health in this country as it is the first gathering of medical men under the auspices of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association at which there lias been section of preventive medicine. The occasion, then, is pre-eminently fitting for a review of public health progress in New Zealand, which will at once trace the evolution of this particular branch of medical science, and at the time show some of the gains which have accrued to the people of the Dominion from its practice. Tliis paper constitutes an attempt at such review. The very substantial improvements in the public health which I hope to he able to demonstrate to your satisfaction began, of course, long before the department to which 1 belong came into being.” Dr Watt, after tracing the history of preventive medicine during the past fifty years, showed that the efforts made by New Zealand in the interests of public health had placed the Dominion in a most enviable position. “New Zealand,” he said, “has nothing to fear from comparison with other parts of the world. Out of thirty-two countries New Zealand lias pride of place with a death rate for the quinquennium 1921-25 of only 8.1, Australia and the Netherlands being second with a rate of 9.4. At the other end of the list are the Straits Settlements with a rate of 34.8, and Chile with a rate of 30.4. As regards infant mortality, also, New Zealand can challenge comparison with the rest of the world. For the period 1921-25 it heads the list of thirty-four countries, with what is described as ‘the marvellously low’ rate of 43, Norway being second with a rate of 52 and Australia third with a rate of 58. At the other end of the list are Chile with a rate of 265, Rumania with a rate of 205 and the Straits Settlements with a rate of 204. In a comparative table setting out the world death rate Troin tuberculosis for the years 1921-25 New Zealand again heads a list of twenty-five countries with a rate of 59 per 100,000 of population, Australia being second with a rate of 60. At the other end of the list are the Straits Settlements 312 and Chile and Panama 250.” Dr Watt then dealt witli other diseases and stated that death rates in New Zealand, compared with other countries, placed the Dominion in the following relative position:—Tyhpoid fever, third in a list of twenty-six countries; diphtheria, eleventh in a list of twenty-five countries; scarlet fever, seventh in a list of twenty-three countries; measles, third in a list of twenty-five countries.