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for the State to see that the people's food supply is pure and wholesome,
and must strive for a high standard of sanitation; the important part
played by food supply and environment on young life must ever be
borne in mind. Children suffer to a greater degree than adults from
impure air, absence of sunlight, underfeeding or unwholesome food.
These conditions affect the infant before birth by lowering the health
of the expectant mother, and again after birth of the infant, especially
during the first four or six weeks, a period sometimes called the " neonatal
" period. A large part of the work of Medical and Sanitary
Officers and Health Visitors to-day is of an educational nature, and
there is much to be done in this direction in dispelling the prevailing
ignorance upon such matters as domestic hygiene, the care and nurture
of infants and children, and the need for fresh air and plain wholesome
food. Our aim is not so much to do things for the mothers as to
educate and to show them how to do things for themselves and for their
children.
The citizens must actively support the State by a healthy public
opinion. If only the populace could be led to strive for a higher
standard of sanitary dwellings—internally no less than externally—
and healthy environment with the same emphasis with which they
insist upon other matters which really are of less importance, then we
should hear less of such troubles as the "dirty tenant," and should see
the beginning of a movement which would help us enormously in
approximating- to the ideal of an " A 1 " population.
ANTE-NATAL.
Ante-Natal Clinics for Expectant Mothers.
Two Clinics for expectant mothers have already been organised,
one at 73, Dynham Road, Kilburn, and one at -59, South End Road.
Kilburn Clinic.—This is held at the Municipal Dispensary, 73,
Dynham Road, N.W. 6. It was started in June, 1917, and is
open on Mondays from 2.30 to 4.30 p.m., and on Thursdays
from 10 a.m. to noon. The average attendance at each clinic
was 2 new cases and 10 old cases.
South End Road Clinic.—This is temporarily housed in shop
premises—59, South End Road —and has been approved as a
temporary measure by the Ministry of Health. It was
started in August, 1919, and is open on Thursdays from 3.30
to 5.30 p.m. The average attendance at each clinic was 2
new cases and 6 old cases.