CASES OF MALNUTRITION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22142, 22 June 1935, Page 14

CASES OF MALNUTRITION

SURVEY IN SCHOOLS 5.64 PER CENT LAST YEAR SLIGHT INCREASE SHOWN [BY TELEGRAM* —I'RESS ASSOCIATION] WELLINGTON, Friday Malnutrition among school children in New Zealand last year showed a slight increase, being 5.61 per cent, as against 5.48 per cent in 1933. There was a decrease, however, compared with each of the five preceding years. This position is shown by figures compiled by the director of tho division of school hygiene.

It is explained that the slight increase last year is very largely duo to the fact that tho proportion of children included from tho primer classes—which, as a general rule, show a slightly higher percentage of malnutrition —is greater than in 1933. "While, however, taking tho Dominion as a whole, tho percentage of children suffering from malnutrition shows no noteworthy increase," states the director, "special groups of the community demand further consideration. Children inhabiting tho poorer, crowded quarters of cities show a lack of vitality and absence of resistance to disease necessitating remedial measures.

"In the rural districts constant outdoor toil is often demanded from all members of the household, including the mother, and as a result meals are irregularly prepared and hours of sleep inadequate. Where there have been years of struggle and anxiety, the psychological factor has to be considered, especially in those families whose scale of living is monotonous and restricted to the barely adequate. "School medical officers report that a gradual and steady lowering of the standard of clothing and personal care is in evidence among certain sections of tho people in some areas."

Records kept over a period of years show that, in 1928, tho percentage of malnutrition noted in the routine examination of school children throughout New Zealand was 6.84; in 1929 it was 7.06; 1930, 6.30; 1931, 6.68; 1932, 5.81 j 1933, 5.48; 1934, 5.64.

POSITION IN DUNEDIN GENERAL POSITION GOOD [by telegraph—OWN correspondent] DUNEDIN. Friday While there is a little evidence in Dunedin schools of lack of sufficient food and clothing for children of the unemployed, the position is not nearly so bad as that reported from Christchurch. "There is evidence that some parents are having difficulty in giving their children suitable clothes and footwear," said one headmaster, "and to a certain extent there is evidence of malnutrition. Cases of this kind, however, are the exception rather than the rule. On the whole the children of the unemployed are being clothed and fed remarkably well." At some schools, including his own, the children were provided with cocoa at midday, and many schools were taking part in the milk distribution scheme. Another headmaster said definitely that there was no noticeable evidence of lack of food or clothing among children. "It quite often happens," he said, "that cases of malnutrition occur in families which are by no means destitute, but this is due either to a wrong type of food being used or to some physical defect in the child."