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Child Welfare Centres
There are ten Centres in the Area where child welfare clinics are held.
The percentage of children under one year of age who attended for the
first time during the year continued the improvement noted in 1956 and
is now at the maximum level. Here mothers seek the advice and counsel
of doctor and health visitor. The majority of children are weighed at each
attendance and the combination of weight check and discussion on the
child's behaviour, feeding, progress and general care continues to be the
basis on which mothers' anxieties and fears are dispelled.
There are so many booklets and journals which publish information and
articles on infant feeding and child care as to be confusing to many who
read them. Mothers find that the child welfare centre is a good place in
which to sort out and obtain information which will be useful for the
individual child. Arrangements for vaccination and immunisation are also
made at these centres.
The continuance of this preventive work has eliminated many conditions
which were common among children in the past and could well be present
today without this service. There is no doubt that the standard of child
well-being amongst those who attend the centres is very good indeed.
In general the children who attend are healthy, but if treatment is necessary
the matter is referred to the family doctor. Co-ordination between
clinic, health visitor and family doctor grows steadily in cordiality to the
advantage of all concerned.