The Waipa Post. Printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1926. NATIONAL HEALTH.

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1926, 26 October 1926, Page 4

The Waipa Post. Printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1926. NATIONAL HEALTH.

AN eminent 'British -surgeon, ripe in years and experience, , recently expressed the opinion t'li.at death statistics are more importarit than 'birth s'tajtisjtics as a guide to a nation's virility, and 'tiha't, feted in that light, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and South Aijrica in that ordejr.standi easily highest in the world. IBe'ivenlt on to renuark that the people of the Dominions l'ive near';-ir to nature in both working 'and •flete'dling, and are bold enough to accept the -(latest teaching regaiChig health. % is |to be borne in mind, df course, that the Dominions ara fortunate in that in 'certain respects hJaalth problems' confront them in a 'simpler form tlhan that which ith'ey assume in cjlder. a-wid more densely;: populated countries. (> The Dominib'ns, that-is to'say, .start off advanta)s; participants in the mow nlpdern mOTemieat ,for,.the promotion of national health. They.are able to plroiflit by 'what-is being "learned and what is (being done in Great .Britain in the) campaign against 'sickness and disease and in tlile l effoirt to. raise the 'general standard-, of physical weli 1 .- being. "What we need as a nation is fuller pro'ductfcn and an. enlarged and hc-a'.t'hlier lifle," 1 says ISilr 'George Newman, chief medical officer to the Min-

istry of Health at Home, in. hi'si latest report on the state of public health in England and Wales. Hfe' is attic to point to important advances, reflecting improved ina'ttonal 'health, 'that have ibeen brought aboult within the last half-centujry. By 'way o,f example may be 'Cited toe l-fsmiarkab'le and in some cases the disappearance, of devastating epidemics, t'hlai lessened severity of certain types of disease, including tuberculosis, the prolongation of life, the reduced rate of mortality among chlll'dlrein, and the more expeditious and effective treatment of disease in present circumstances. But alongside the advances Which have taken place thelre ils amp'ile indication, it is pointed 'oojjt, of ithe for greater, or, perhaps more correctly, wider progress,. "Cancer appears to gafln ground; tuberculosis is still all too prevalent; pneumOnlia and influenza aire sjnill undefeateci|; smallpox is preferred to vaccination;.ev|en maternal mortality is permitted ,tta be higher than the average of the previous ten years; in 19(25 we loslt 10,000 children from, measleis and whooping coug'i—'childish maladies' in which mortality ■is preventable—arid general invalidity and physical incapacity cost us, among insured pdrsons only, the equivalent of 'twelve; months' work of half a million ipeopil'cl." Speaking broadly, tlhere(fore, observes iSir 'George Newman, 'while substantial 'benefits are being reaped in many 'directions, the nation ils neglecting to take its full profits; it must learn to bend all its social agencies Ito the tleititerment of man',* estate, the first thing neediful for him being physical health and capacity. Next to helalrt disease, respiratory diseasta was moslt productive of mortality in .Uhie Old 'Country I'.aslt year. Pneumonia' is malinly a disease of industrial and urban due to the total •complex of town life. All statistical evidence, Sir 'George iNewman says, points to sharp cbarigjes of itempera/cure, particularly in their effect on the aged; as the reall basis of the evil 'reputation of climate in relation to,respiratory disease. Again, .large and promiscuous group's of people favotir and even inci|ujce the spread o>f infection. Respecting influenza, and the Waist mlefdhod of preventing Its attacks on the individual, we are told that, unfortunately, "in the present state of our knowledge," medical prophylaxis is unreliable, and 'that the sensible courste is Ito pursue a iregular, healthy life, avoliding excesses of all kinds, and taking as much out-of-door exercise as circumstances will! permit. Against cancer early diagnosis and' early operative 'treatment aria still the medical profession's 'principal weapons, and. tiine Opinion is expressed that, even with the present knowledge, Mie 'mcirt'aUity rate from this disease is substantially reducible. In England and 'Wales tuberculosis claimed! 40,387 victims in 192)5, though that is, hap-pil-y, t'he lowest total on record. It is recalled that the Minister of Health has 'offered Ito have a trial made in England "o'f M. ISlpahlinger's preparation's; as soon a's sufficient matjerial has been prepared .for the purpose of an investigation, but th'alt, is not yet. i't has I'c'en 'pointed du)t by iDr. MeKibbin 1 , IDKr'seto.r of Public Hygiene, Ithat New Zealand has now Ithe second lowest death-rate from tuberculosis in the civilised wtorld—igOu'th Africa occupying (the superior position—and it is suggest'cid that she owes this probably to lier sparse populVatiion, her comparatlvfely suinny and roomy houses, and her ample food supply. What 'Dir. MoKil'Mn has said; respecting the. desirability of keeping our" cities healthy by judicious town planning should serve to remind people in this country |.!'.iat i't is Vtbldir duty to maintain the adva.nltageou s conditions which conduce to their relatively good' standard of health. Even here, among a people whose virility is recognised, tbla burden Of preventable disease is very seriously felt, land (tJhefre cannot be (totoi great a display of energy and co-operation with a view Ito the redlue-i tion of it.