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61
THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INFANTILE MORTALITY.
The Conference held at the Caxton Hall, Westminster, for consideration of the subject of
Infantile Mortality, met on June 13th and 14th, to deal with a very ample programme. The
proceedings commenced with a presidential address by the Right Hon. John Burns, M.P.,
President of the Local Government Board. The Chairman of the Conference was Mr. Evan
Spicer, J.P., the Chairman of the London County Council. The attendance of members and
delegates was very large. I was present on both days as the delegate of the Council.*
The programme of subjects for discussion was as follows:—
I. Administrative—Measures immediately Practicable.
(1) The teaching of infant feeding and nursing in schools. (2) The appointment of
qualified women with special reference to the hygiene and feeding of infants. (3) The
supply of pure or specially modified milk for the feeding of infants.
II. Educative—Problems for Discussion.
(1) The influence of alcoholism on infantile mortality (2) The relation of premature
births to infantile mortality. (3) Infant Life Insurance.
III. Legislative—-Measures requiring further Legislation.
(1) Earlier registration or notification of births. (2) Employment of women before and
after confinement. (3) The regulation of the placing of infants out to nurse, and the
amendment of the Infant Life Protection Act. (4) The sale and oontrol of infant food
stuffs. (5) The increase of the powers of Local Authorities in regard to milk supply. (6)
The extension of the Midwives Act to Scotland.
The resolutions of the Conference were as follows :—
1. That the Education Department be urged to add instruction in Elementary Hygiene,
with reference to the dietary and rearing of infants, to their present scheme for systematically
training girls in the senior classes in the practice and principles of personal hygiene and the
elements of dietary.
2. That, in the opinion of this Conference, immediate legislation is required enabling
Sanitary Authorities to establish or support depots for the supply of pure, or modified, or sterilized
milk, and to defray any cost out of the monies available for public health purposes.
3. That, in view of the information submitted, the Conference is of opinion that all stillbirths
should be notified, within 48 hours, to the Medical Officer of Health of the district in which
they occur, and that no burial should take place without a medical certificate.
4. That the notification of all births be given within 48 hours to the Medical Officer of
Health of the district in which they occur.
5. That in the opinion of this Conference, the question of the insurance of infant lives
under 12 months is one demanding serious consideration, and, with a view to receiving reliable
information, the Government should be asked to appoint a departmental committee of inquiry on
the whole question.
6. (a) That the period of one month's abstention from factory work away from home now
imposed on mothers, be extended to at least three months, and that, on their return to work,
evidence must be produced, satisfactory to the Local Authority, that proper provision has been made
for the care of the child.
(6) That no employer of labour shall permit a woman advanced in pregnancy to engage in
factory labour unless her ability therefor has been certified to the satisfaction of the Local
Authority.
7. (a) That, having regard to the ascertained fact that in centres of industries where
women are largely employed away from their homes, an excessive number of deaths of infants takes
place, and that this is contributed to by the improper conditions existing at the houses in which
infants are placed out to nurse, it is necessary that the persons by whom, and the places into which,
infants are received, should be under supervision by the Local Sanitary Authority.
(b) That the Infant Life Protection Act be amended to remedy abuses which are not at
present provided against.
• The printed " proceedings " form a goodly volume of some 300 pages