MATERNAL MORTALITY

Taranaki Daily News, 10 April 1928, Page 11

MATERNAL MORTALITY

REDUCTION IN AUSTRALIA SIMILAR METHODS NEEDED HERE. AUCKLAND DOCTOR’S REPORT. (By ‘Wire—Special to News.) Auckland, Last Night. ‘The establishment nearly three years ago of a chair of Midwifery at Sydney University has been a great.succcss. The problem has been tackled well in Australia generally and in Sydney in particular. The opening o-f baby clinics where mothers as well as babie© are attended to ‘has considerably improved the position, the death-rate, both in regard to infants and their mothers, having been greatly reduced.” This statement was made to an interviewer - this morning by Dr. Emma Buckley Turkington, of Auckland, who returned by the Maunganui after spending two months in New South Wales investigating child ■welfare and maternal mortalrlty problems. “It has been proved,” said Dr. Turkington, ‘‘that the way to tackle the maternal mortality question is by education and the employment of nurses with plenty of practical experience under scientific supervision. The university itself is providing trained material. The establishment of the midwifery chair was largely due to the women’s organisations, and I think it is very desirable that something should be done in New Zealand on similar lines.”