A HEALTHIER NATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 114, 12 April 1940, Page 6

A HEALTHIER NATION.

Medical men, scientists, and the men and women most affected will have gained satisfaction froth the recent announcement indicating that England and Wales have maintained—and improved in some respects—the notable advancement recently made towards better health. As the reward for industry, research, and the adoption of sound living principles the nation is slowly but surely leaving behind the reproach it once earned m the matter of mortality and sickness. Indeed, an excellent example can in certain respects be set to other countries. It is satisfactory to discover a continued rise in the birth rate, even though the improvement on 1938 was only .2 per thousand —at least the decline which threatened the nation has been arrested. The death rate, too, has responded to research, and last year was lower than ever before, except in 193 U. In the matter of infant mortality rests perhaps the greatest cause for congratulation, for this is at the record low level of 53 per one thousand live births, maternal mortality declining for the fourth year in succession to a new low level of 2.62 per one thousand births. Nevertheless, nearly 2000 mothers in England and Wales lose their lives in this manner each year, leaving a great deal of room for improvement. Cause for gratification rests in the record low death rate from whooping cough of 120 children per million under the age of fifteen years. There is a vast difference from seventy, years ago, when the malady claimed the lives of 1415 per million-—in 1937 only 195 per million succumbed. In 1870 tuberculosis took the lives of 2882 per million--in 1937 a record low level of 65 1 per million was attained. In the same period the measles rate lias fallen from 1038 to 114. On the contrary, influenza and diabetes were not credited with any fatal results seventy years ago, while today, with cancer, their toll is increasing. The century’s advance, however, has been distinctly encouraging. In 1937, out of a population of fifteen millions, the death rate was 22.4 per thousand ; in 1937 it had fallen to 12, though the population had risen to fortyone millions. In the intervening period deaths from cholera and smallpox have been practically extinguished. So the advance continues.