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Gain or Loss of Weight of Children who have been in the School more than
12 Months.
Number of children who showed a gain in weight 25
Average gain in kilos. 3
Number of children who lost weight or whose weight was
stationary -
Average loss in kilos. -
WILLIAM BRAND.
SECTION 4.
There were no specific causes of sickness or invalidity
calling for special mention during the year 1923.
SECTION 5.
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Infant Welfare Centres.
It is fair to state that the growth in the number of
Infant Welfare Centres emerged from a genuine public desire
for enlightenment in the care and management of infants.
Indeed, their establishment may be regarded as a concrete
expression of an attempt to improve the physical
standard of the children of this country.
Nevertheless, there still remains a considerable section
of the public who view the Infant Welfare Centre as another
example for encouraging those who are alleged to seek to be
relieved of full parental responsibility.
On the contrary, the function of the Infant Welfare
Centre is to advise mothers what to do, and how to do it. The
ante-natal clinic, doctor's clinic, and mothercraft class are
definite agencies for instruction in matters relating to the
health of the mother and her infant. The well-being of
the child depends upon her own efforts in carrying out this
advice.
It must be recognised that the promotion of all official
schemes is usually the result of pressure in a greater or
lesser degree on the part of those who desire an improvement
in existing conditions, and their establishment directs public
attention to the need for the services.
Therefore, so long as the community as a whole are
indifferent to the advantages of taking an intelligent interest
in their welfare, so long will they be deprived of the benefits
of progressive measures.
This is particularly true with regard to preventive
medicine. Much could be accomplished in the realm of public
health by an intensive propaganda campaign in the form of
simple lectures and demonstrations in the causation of
diseases.