Plan To Improve Maoris’ Health

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30575, 19 October 1964, Page 1

Plan To Improve Maoris’ Health

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, October 18. An eight-point programme to improve the health of the Maori people has been decided on by a Maori health committee set up by the Board of Health.

Headed by the Director-General of Health (Dr. H. B. T urbott) the committee will first of all concentrate .on improving the health of Maori children and on family planning.

According to the secretary of the committee, Mr K. E. Swann, the programme was determined at the last meeting of the committee in August and steps have been taken to implement parts of it.

A survey of Maori health had been taken in some communities in the North Island by Dr. lan Prior, of Wellington Hospital, and clinical evidence he obtained supported statistics taken out by a branch of the department in 1960. Mr Swann said the committee had decided the first effort was an attack on the frequency of ear complaints amongst Maori children. “Studies have shown that Maoris often seem to regard ear complaints, such as discharges, amongst children as a part of growing up. They seem to let it go with consequent serious effects for the children in later life.” Mr Swann said an extensive service to deal with this had been started >n the Waikato Hospital Board’s area and it was hoped to create an overall service for Maori children throughout the country. "The committee plans first of all to deal with the immediate trouble and then, if possible, get experts to deal with long-term effects." The director of the National Audiology Centre in Auckland, Dr. A. C. Miller, had been appointed to take charge of the programme and would report to the next meeting of the committee on December 2 about the schedule he proposed to follow. Anaemic Babies Dr. Prior, said Mr Swann, had also found a number of Maori babies were anaemic. Their condition seemed to improve as they grew older, but it was found that, because of the anaemia, the babies did not have the same resistance to childhood complaints as European babies. “As a result, we are arranging for an iron mixture to be made available for all Maori babies from the age of four months to eight months. Arrangements should be complete and the mixture available by the end of the year.” The question of the size of Maori families was a delicate problem. Mr Swann said. "Medical opinion is that many Maori women are un-

able to cope with a large family,” he said. “Sometimes, the sheer size of the family means that the woman is unable to look after it In other cases, because erf her state of health as a result erf having a number of babies, the woman is physically unable to look after them as she ought to. “The committee felt that family spacing might be the answer rather than advocacy of reduced size of families. “This whole topic will be the main subject of discussion at the December meeting.” Social Aid The possibility of stepping up public health nursing services to Maoris living in the country had been discussed and the department had been asked to look into it It was also felt, said Mr Swann, that the training of nurses might be improved by placing the emphasis not so much on actual nursing, but more on social help. The department would study its training programme with this in mind. The Director of Education had also been asked to review health education in schools. The committee felt Maori girls were getting good domestic training in schools and that, as a result, had more idea of what home life should be than boys. It might be possible, it thought, to give some attention to the problem. “Cold” Start In addition, the committee has requested the Director of Education to establish more play centres in rural areas. With 50 per cent of the Maori people living in the country, the committee believed many Maori pupils started school “cold” with no background of mixing with varying groups of children, said Mr Swann. This put them at a disadvantage compared with their city counterparts. Mr Swann said the committee had also given thought to the need for more counselling among Maori people before they shifted their home

from the country to the town. A policy of urbanisation was being encouraged amongst the Maoris by the Maori Affairs Department and a number of problems could arise. It seemed to the committee that, from a health point of view, a lot of advice was now given to Maoris after they had moved to the towns and been confronted with problems which they had been unable to deal satisfactorily with. The committee felt matters would be improved if this advice was given before the move took place. One of the main problems seemed to be one of diet. “Not having their traditional foods available to them, they turn to tinned and frozen foods, adapting to European foods in their own way. “Often, as a result, there is a degree of malnutrition which gives rise to a great deal of over-weight Counselling “Some members also felt that if counselling were not given more attention before shifts were made, the stresses resulting from them could lead to a mental health problem.” The members of the committee include Mr C. M. Bennett: deputy-Secretary for Maori Affairs, Professor C. W. Dixon: professor of social and preventive medicine at Otago University, Dr. M. N. Paewai: a general practitioner at Kaikohe, Mr W. Herewini: controller of Maori welfare, Mr P. T. Watene: Opp., Eastern Maori, Mr P. W. Tapsell: a Maori surgeon from Rotorua. Mr D. M. Jillet, of Auckland, representing the Director of Education: Mrs R. Sage, a representative of the Maori Women’s Welfare League, and Dr. H. Bennett, of the Takonui Mental Hospital.

Medical officers of health whose districts contain a large number of Maoris have also attended committee meetings.