MINISTRY OF PUBLIC HEALTH.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16216, 20 May 1918, Page 7

MINISTRY OF PUBLIC HEALTH.

AUSTRIA'S EFFOHT TO MITIGATE

EFFECTS OF AVAR

(srF.CIAI.I/f WRITTEN FOB "THE PRESS.' )

<1!Y MRS JOJAN GRANDE.)

UERNK. February 26. In :> reront article I dealt with the. appal)inp infantile mortality in Austria and the ravages of consumption, which is now known as tho Viennese malady. I aho touched upon the increase of disease in general in Austria since e war, and on tho heaviness of the deathroll which has risen every year since 1913.

Matters have now becomc so serious that a Ministry of Health is being formed in Austria, in the hope, primarily. of checking disease, and, secondarily, of preventing child morta ity. Austria is finding that, her or '"® l health laws, which date hack to 18<U. are inefficient, and evaded whenever possible. Their main defect, however, was that thev allowed the different parts of Austria to regulate sanitary matters according to their indm ua taste, which has sometimes meant that ono part of the Austrian impne has had no sanitary laws at all for wentjfivo vears or longer. It is, indeed, a marvel that, in the circumstances, uo pestilence has broken out. The difficulty in constituting this Ministry at present seems to be that so many of the doctors, from whose cooperation much is hoped, are at the front, or engaged in hospitals, where thev have alreadv as much <}■> thev can do," and more*. The regulations ot tho nevv Austrian Ministry pf Health will be very extensive. ft is proposed, tor instance—

1. To take .step; to prevent venereal disease as far us possible, and, in particular, to endeavour to compel all parents, ivhen marrying their daughters, to make sure that both Uriao and bridegroom ate in thoroughly sound health, and altogether in a lit state to marry. A father, it is complained, at present onquires how much a suitor for his daughter's hand earns, how much lie is to receive from home, niul all about bis material prospects, but nothing about anything which will throw on the question whether he is likely to produce healthy children or not, or whether lie may not even briny his bride back from the wedding journey with the jrernis of some ineradicable disease. Tf such laws are enacted and can be enforced, then theVe ought ultimately to be a considerable decroaso in the number of divorces and separations. 2. A very important part of tho work of tho new Austrian Ministry of Health will he the supervision of the sanitary arrangements and drainage of dwellings, particularly workingclass dwellings. Above all, speculators must he prevented from putting up lath and plaster buildings. ~3. Measures are to be taken to mitigate tho dust and smoke nuisances, and prevent factories and works from defiling the air, and inundating everyone living near them, and also schools and barracks, with dust and smoke. 4. Strict measures are to bo taken to prevent food adulteration. All food factories, such as jam factories and went preserving works, and all beverage works, are to bo strictly controlled, in order to ensure their products really containing what they profess to contain. 5. Not only are all quack medicines to be prohibited, but penplo are to be instructed ■ in the danger of resorting either to thorn or to quack doctors. 6. In the case of a doctor finding anyone suffering from nn.v contagious disease, even if only slightly, he will be bound to endeavour to ensure the person entering a proper hospital for treatment; and in case of his failure to do this he must immediately report to the authorities.

The first business of the Austrian Ministry of Health will be as far us possible to remedy the damage caused by tho war. that is to say, to replace those who nave fallen in the war by others who can do their work, and to restore tho sick and wounded to health, and find suitable work for them: «md, above all, to endeavour to improve and increase tho rations of the civilian population, who, it is now quite frankly admitted, has been very seriously underfed for some time past. Organisations already exist for the protection of mothers and infants in arms, and also of children; and these brandies of the work of the new Ministry of Health will be left mainly to them.

How badly large numbers of tho Austrian population Imvo been underfed appears from a speech in the Austrian Parliament by a Social Democrat, Herr Seeliger, who said that he could show the House death certificates in which were the words in black and white: "Diod of Stamition." And to prove how urgent is the need for this Ministry of Health I may say that tho manners of the six Vienneso relief shelters, in which .on an average 86,000 helpings of soup and broad are supplied daily between the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., have just announced that the number of poor people they l-.ave fed and warmetl during the war now exceeds one million. These relief shelters aro doing something to prevent "deaths from starvation." Each of them can accommodate at a time about 250 persons, and no questions whatever are asked of anyone who appears with his or her basin or jug, and holds it out for a helping of soup. Only a quarter of a litre (not quite half a pint) is given, with a large piece of bread. Long before the time of opening a crowd of people collects in the street. As a rule children are allowed in first, then women, and last of all a certain number of old, more o»- less decrepit men. Those responsible for these relief shelters have just made known that, unless more money is given them, they will be forced to close on March 15th.

The authorities, however, are comforting the people with promises of largely-increased supplies of foodstuffs, and other blessings from the Ukraine; but those who really know how mucn about the state of Austrian public health declare that not all the Russian eggs and Ukrainian wheat will ever effectually restore the health of manv of the adult generation. In tho large Austrian cities, indeed, people have not only the poorness and insufficiency of the food to contend against, but'also lack of living-room, and. now, groat difficulty in procuring the simplest hnd most indispensable articles of clothing, particularly boots, at any rrice which they can_ afford. Moreover, a good deal of disease is propagated owing to lack of personal cleanliness, which again, is a consequence of the extreme dearness of soap and all articles use:! in washing, and of the scarcity of gas and fuel.

The Ministry of Health will therefore create a disinfecting station to which people who have need of such treatment will be obliged to go, and have their clothes fumigated and'their persons thoroughly cleansed. Such people will receive a card certifying that they have undergone this cleansing process. No miblic lodging-house or works will be able to admit or engage them except on production either of the card or of other evidenco that they are reasonably clean.