THE PEOPLE'S HEALTH

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 23, 27 July 1927, Page 8

THE PEOPLE'S HEALTH

(To tha Editor.)

Sir, —The changing attitude of the medical profession towards tho incidence of disease is one of the signs of the times. Two pronouncements of iin--portance have been made during the past week—one from London by Sir Kobert Philip, and the other by Dr. S. A. Gibbs, as reported in your columns. Dr. Gibbs, in lamenting the absence of any efficient organisation to deal with the! c ses which I have held for seven years, view which I have held for seven years^ And utanding as a humanist candidate' for Christchurch South in 1922," I appealed for the formation of "a strong New Zealand Humanist Society to take up the work of preventive humane education against disease. Since then I have made repeated efforts towards tho formation of such a society, but hayp always been repulsed by the apathy of that peculiar thing known as <'.public opinion." It is almost impossible ,to understand how the New Zealand public have allowed the publication of-such: reports as the V.D. Commission of 1922,' and the Degeneracy and Feeble .Mind' ed report of 1923 without even so ihuch as a whimper being made. And" this is not so only in those directions butis: applicable to almost every "publichealth" report—a catalogue of all the diseases human flesh is heir to. Then a short time ago the Minister of Public Health was informing us that New Zealand has more hospitals than any other country in proportion to population. Yet an apathetic public allows this state of affairs to go on, as though they were in a complete state of anaesthesia. The time for a rigorous education campaign against disease is long past due. And we want publicity for it too. Disease always flourishes in darkness. It must be dragged out into the light of education- to be adequately dealt with. At present we have a queer psychology which gives more publicity to the latest prize fight on. the other side of the world in an hour, than preventive humane education- receives in five years. We must make people realise that their health, rate is of more vital importance to them than their bank rate. To-day the attitude of the general public is like that of a man who waits until his house is a roaring furnace before he thinks of having it insured, or of calling np the fire brigade. - _, The most vital lesson of the Great War to my mind is that tho true test of national prosperity is founded upon the sound health of the people. How can we expect to be prosperous when our health rate has to be underwritten to an extent of about 10 per cent, -through the incidence of disease? / Sir Bobert Philip tells us: "Health was born, and disease was for tho most .part made." So it seems to be that <tho one cardinal principle for the maintenance of health is humane education. At present it is the Cinderella of the sciences. . And here lies the opportunity for the foundation of a strong New Zealand Humanist Society.—l am, etc. B. M. THOMSON. Ponsonby, 24th July.