FEWER BABIES DIE NOW IN PAPUA

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30129, 13 May 1963, Page 2

FEWER BABIES DIE NOW IN PAPUA

As the number of women who entered hospital to give birth to their babies increased, so did the infant mortality rate in Papua drop, said Mrs W. Bache, who has spent 11 years there, in Christchurch yesterday. The Rev. W. Bache and Mrs Bache, both missionaries, are on a six-week lecture tour of New Zealand. For their first 10 years in Papua. Mr and Mrs Bache were at a mission station at Iruna, 200 miles east along the coast from Port Moresby “When I first went to Iruna it was hard to get women to come to hospital at all. They were very suspicious.” she said. However, over the years the number coming had increased “We give them a blanket or perhaps one or two nappies for their new babies when they leave hospital." Mrs Bache said. Otherwise the infants were left naked, or perhaps wrapped in an old towel or skirt. Women carried their babies in string bags called “kipas." They hung on their backs, and were carried by the handle which was passed over the forehead. “Or when the women are working in the vegetable gardens, she

just hangs the bag up somewhere, baby and all,” said Mrs Bache. Malaria takes a big toll in Papua. “Most Papuans are infected. Up to one year of age, more deaths are caused by malaria than anything else. After the age of one. they do not succumb quite so readily.” Australian born, Mrs Bache is a qualified nurse, and she has done much nursing and medical work in Papua. In Iruna she organised a village hospital, and with some partly-trained Papuan girls, diagnosed and treated such cases as snake bite, scabies, yaws, infected sores, tropical ulcers and pneumonia (to which the natives are very susceptible' More serious illnesses were sent to Port Moresby. Leprosy was still common, she said. "Papuan girls make excellent nurses," and many are being trained. Mrs Bache said. One, who had done a three-year course of infant welfare and maternity training. was in charge of one of the ante-natal clinics that are being set up in some of the villages. Though the more remote villages in the mountains are still fairly primitive. the more accessible areas are becoming westernised Quite a

number of Western style dwellings are seen, and few women or girls now wear grass skirts. They sew their own frocks and blouses and skirts