MAORI HEALTH PROBLEMS

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29336, 15 October 1960, Page 11

MAORI HEALTH PROBLEMS

Special Inquiry Proposed

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON. October 14.

A Board of Health committoe has been proposed to inquire into Maori health problems. Medical officers of health supported this idea at their two-day conference on Maori health in Wellington this week.

The Director-General of Health (Dr. H. B. Turbott) and the Acting Secretary of the Department of Maori Affairs (Mr J. K. Hunn) are to confer on the composition of the committee.

The main points discussed at the conference were housing, maternal mortality, child health, social problems and matters affecting the Maori generally.

Wider health education and improved medical and nursing facilities were among the items noted for a programme of the future.

Women were becoming the leading force among Maoris today. and would be one of the main factors in the future of the Maori people, said the assistant controller of Maori welfare in the Department of Maori Affairs (Mr N. S. Puriri).

The movement of Maoris to urban areas was dictated by economic circumstances, he said. At present 76 per cent, of the Maori population lived in the counties, including town districts, and 24 per cent, in the boroughs, including cities. In 1945 the respective percentages were 83.81 and 15.96.