MAORIS AND DISEASE

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2308, 28 November 1925, Page 15

MAORIS AND DISEASE

COMPARISON WITH EUROPEANS. high infantile heath rate. With the exception of diphtheria, epidemic and infectious diseases generally exact a much heavier toll proportionally among Maoris than among the general population, the most noteworthy example being tuberculosis, particularly of the respirator system. Other diseases of the respiratory system also show much higher rates for Maoris than for Europeans and the same state of affairs is disclosed for diarrhoeal diseases and stomach complaints. On the other hand there is a much Lower mortality among Maoris from certain diseases which rank high as causes of death among European population. Principal among tliest are cancer, heart-disease and otner diseases of the circulatory system, nephritis, the group of general dis-i oases which includes diabetes and exophthalmic goitre and the group of diseases’ of the nervous system includes apoplexy and cerebal haemorrhage. Malformations and premature births show lower rates for Maoris than for Europeans,, but Hie indefinite nature of the. data in the registration entries covering the deaths of many infants may be partly responsible. The proportion between Europeans and Maori deaths from malformations and the group "early infancy’’ taken in conjunction (the prenatal causes) works out at 24 to 1, which coincides with the population proportions. As regards infantile mortality in general however, the Maori rate Is much higher than the European principally owing to the ravages of epidemic diseases, tuberculosis, re-' spiratory diseases and diarrhoeal diseases. The infantile-mortality rato ( for the first year of life was, for the. five years 1920-21, 131 per 1000 births in the case of Maoris as compared with 45 per 1000 among European' infants, and this in spite of the fact that for the first month of life the Maori rate was actually lower than the European (27 as against 28). Among Maori infants who survived the first month the death-rate during 1 the succeeding eleven months was ?o per 1000, as compared with only 16 xmr 1000 in the case of Europeans: