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34
evidence. In the course of the routine examination of every case at
the Clinic, it is customary now-a-days to take readings of the blood
pressure at regular intervals so as to detect any tendency to a rise
indicative of toxæmia of pregnancy. In carrying out these routine
observations, it has been noticed that the blood pressure of many of
these under-nourished women is definitely below the average for their
ages and below a level which is consistent with health. For instance,
in the type of case I am referring to, it is not uncommon to find a
systolic pressure of only 100.
Fortunately, in our Borough, the Maternity and Child Welfare
Committee arranges for every necessitous expectant mother to have a
pint of milk free daily when she is six months pregnant, provided she
has a medical certificate that she needs it. It is most encouraging to
note the improvement in the physical condition of such a woman
after she has had this extra nourishment for a time and especially,
too, the way in which her blood pressure frequently responds by a
beneficial rise.
One cannot help wondering, though, what the physical condition
of such expectant mothers must be in less fortunate localities than
Hampstead, where the local Health Authority does not provide the
extra nourishment for them as our Borough Council does.
Finally, one is forced to the conclusion that if the nutrition of
the school children in areas where unemployment is rife has not
suffered to any serious extent (as the Education Authorities assure
us is the case), it must be because the shortage of food in such households
is falling upon the parents instead of the children and especially
on the mothers. "I have not had a cooked dinner for six months,
Doctor," said an unemployed man's wife to me not long ago.
In conclusion, I wish to thank the Maternity and Child Welfare
Committee and the Medical Officer of Health for their most helpful
support and consideration during the last year.
MARY KIDD,
M.B., B.S. (Lond.).
March, 1934.