HEALTH OF CHILDREN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 92, 28 March 1941, Page 41

HEALTH OF CHILDREN

CHILD NUTRITION IN A RURAL COMMUNITY..By H. C. D. Somerset. New Zealand Council tor Educational Research, 1941. HIS book is the outcome of investiga‘tions carried out in a South Island district high school between February, 1934; and May, 1938. The investigations began towards the end of the three years’ depression. ‘The regular medical examination of the pupils failed to disclose any trend towards malnutrition, obviously because subjective means were employed. An objective standard (the Toronto height-weight-age scale) was therefore set up and regular tests were carried out. These revealed 25 per cent. malnutrition. That this was due not to the poverty of the parents, but to their ignorance of food requirements was shown by the fact that malnutrition was spread over all sections of the community. An intensive campaign was therefore launched in school and among parents. A free milk scheme was introduced (be-

fore the Government scheme came into being) and school lunches were revolutionised. After a twelve months’ campaign the trend towards good nutrition was well established, the malnutrition figure having dropped to 8 per cent. in May, 1938. This book should be read by all citizens interested in the health of their own and other people’s children. It is no merely technical publication but provides stimulating reading for the layman. It should certainly be read by all teachers. The method used by Mr. Somerset is clearly set out with a wealth of tables and diagrams and may well prove a model for the carrying out of similar investigations, e.g., testing the results of the "Apple a Day" scheme. The percentage of malnutrition and various deficiency diseases (e.g., dental decay) is still too high among our childten, Only by the conscientious carrying out of investigations such as this can the position be made clear and the right steps taken to remedy it.