A Worthy Appeal

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25445, 17 March 1948, Page 4

A Worthy Appeal

The South Island Tuberculosis Association will to-day make its third annual appeal for funds to carry on its valuable work. The citizens of Christchurch invariably support with great generosity the many worthy causes to which they are asked to subscribe; and the claims of the Tuberculosis Association to their sympathy and generosity will be recognised, by all who are familiar with its objects and its activities, as second to none. Because the association has been active for only three years and because it has gone unobtrusively about its work, there may be some to whom the appeal needs to be recommended. This recommendation we give without reservation.

Tuberculosis is a widespread disease in this country, and its economic and social effects are serious in the extreme. Much has been done and is being done by the national and local medical authorities. Much more remains to be done; and the proposals of the Government for an intensified fight against the disease are awaited with interest and some anxiety. The Minister of Health has promised a “bold ap- “ proach ” to the problem. Nothing less comprehensive than the recently announced plans of the Australian Federal and State Governments to “ reduce tuberculosis to a “ problem of minor importance ” within 20 years, at an annual estimated cost of £2,000,000 a year, will suffice in New Zealand. The Australian health authorities place great emphasis on the education of the public to prevent disease. The Tuberculosis Associations in New Zealand have seen this need and have met it to the extent that their modest resources will allow. Until the Government health authorities are ready to carry out educative .work as part of the comprehensive campaign against the disease, it is very important that voluntary organisations should be given the means to carry it on. New Zealand has about 10,000 sufferers from the disease (compared with an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 in Australia), and about half of them may be active spreaders of infection. Some 1500 new cases are diagnosed each

year, many of them too late for effective treatment, a great many of them much later than they should have been. Early diagnosis is imperative, both to give victims the best chance of recovery and to protect those with whom they live and work. Meanwhile, instruction of the public in how to recognise the symptoms and in the desirability of early and effective treatment is one of the most effective weapons against the disease; and there is a compelling need for the tuberculosis associations to extend their work in this field. The South Island Tuberculosis Association has earned the gratitude of the community for its help in the after-care of tuberculosis patients. As both treatment and convalescence are protracted, the illness of a bread-winner or the mother of a family often produces a crisis in the home. Financial anxiety may retard recovery or lead to sufferers neglecting to obtain treatment; often convalescent patients suffer relapse because they go back to work too soon or undertake work that is beyond their capacity for the time being. The association goes a long way toward overcoming these difficulties. It makes allowances to patients and their dependants, it finds suitable work for discharged sanatorium patients (subsidising the cost of trade training where necessary), and helps them while they are limited to light or part-time work. In dozens of other ways it looks after the welfare and the contentment of sanatorium patients and their families. The citizens of Christchurch who subscribe to today’s appeal; will have the satisfying knowledge that the money could not be spent in a more worthy cause.