SAFEGUARDING MOTHERS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 79, 27 December 1928, Page 5

SAFEGUARDING MOTHERS

W’ORK BEING DONE IN ENGLAND.

The inaugural meeting of an organisation formed to assist the various agencies and hospitals carrying on maternity work in England was attended by the Minister of Health, Mr. Neville Chamberlain. He said that in the last 25 years there had been an enormous improvement in all medical services, and medical knowledge and surgical skill continued to make wonderful strides. There had been an increase in the amount of maternity accommodation in hospitals, maternity homes and institutions; there were child-welfare centres and a large number of clinics where a mother might learn the proper care of herself and her child before and after the child was born. Housing and sanitary conditions were better, and there was a general improvement in the standard of living among the poorer clnsscs. . . This being so. continued the Minister, they had a right to expect a tangible dividend on their expenditure. In these 25 vears they had actually halved the infant mortality U but when they considered the deaths of the mothers they found a very distressing state of thu’- H - Thev had made no progress: m fact, the tendency was in the opposite 'breetion. In ITUS the number of deaths was per 1000 births; last year it was 4.11. He felt that the time had come when thev must seriously set themselves to grapple with the problem. A large number of these deaths were due« to puerperal infection, of which the causes were inknown. He had set up a committee of inquiry, with Sir George Newman as chairman, whose duty it would be to investigate this matter and to assist the work he had arranged that every ease of maternal mortality from one end ot the country to the other , should be investigated. After reviewing other activities of the Department, including the Znpointment of J committee to consider the who’e training of midwives. Ulr. Clmmbe-lnin added thnt while the Ministry of Health con’d do much, vet when Renme to actual contact with penn e n voluntary association could beat a Government pew-rtment every /'me.