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38
MATERNITY & CHILD WELFARE.
To many young social workers "the Public Health
service" is almost another name for "Maternity and
Child Welfare" work. Yet only a decade ago the
latter work was in its infancy while our present Public
Health organisation is nearly a century old. The
reasons for this rapid development of the special services
for women and children are doubtless many, but
among them is certainly a new application of the old
maxim "prevention is better than cure." Sanitary
reform has removed most of the grosser evils which
formerly bred disease, the provision of prompt treatment
in isolation hospitals has diminished the prevalence
of infectious disease and the control of the
food supply has raised the quality and purity of our
foods. Improved housing and a higher standard of
living have also contributed to better health.
All these excellent measures still leave unsolved
the problem of how' to secure safe childbirth and a
healthy and happy young child. The former is bound
up with social and professional traditions and the
latter with social and economic conditions.
The domestic conditions and physical environment
in Bethnal Green are definitely inimical to healthy
child life and maternity is a function which is
conducted under considerable difficulties and a good
deal of added risk. Poverty too often means a restricted
or unsuitable dietary, insufficient or wrong clothing,
inadequate housing accommodation and other handicaps.
Lavatory basins and bathrooms, with a regular supply
of hot water are unknown in the Borough. Cleanliness
is a continual struggle with very adverse circumstances.
Midwifery is provided by a number of unco-ordinated
agencies, partly for private gain, partly as a
branch of social service, partly as a branch of medical
education.