MATERNAL MORTALITY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3808, 8 March 1927, Page 31

MATERNAL MORTALITY.

NEED FOR INVESTIGATION. CHRISTCHURCH, March 2. The need for the hospital boards to take steps to reduce the incidence of maternal mortality in the country districts was emphasised by the Minister of Health (the Hon. J. A. Young) in an address to the New Zealand Hospital Boards Association this morning. The greater degree of maternal mortality was in tho country districts. People were generally healthier in the country districts than in the towns, so that it was not their locality that was the cause of the trouble. The actual cause was a technical matter, and it was one for experts to handle. “But as students of the social position of the country we find that in 1922 64 mothers died in the towns and 85 in the rural areas,” said Mr Young. “In 1925 51 died in the towns and 80 in the country, so there is much work to be done there.” It was a problem that had to be faced, he said. The hospital boards had established maternity wards, but they must not stop there. Where there were maternity wards in the country there was also the need for ante-natal clinics, where women could be examined prior to childbirth, and where the medical officers could take steps to remove anything that was likely to have a serious effect on the lives of the mothers and children. “The best immigrants we have in New Zealand are those who are born and bred in the Dominion,” said Mr Young in conclusion.