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MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Under this head the Ministry of Health asks that in the case of Metropolitan
Boroughs information should be provided with regard to (a) the incidence of
puerperal fever, ophthalmia neonatorum, and other infectious diseases, and
(b) general arrangements for attending to the health of expectant and nursing
mothers and children under five years of age.
Inasmuch as the information asked for with regard to the infectious diseases
has already been given under the heading relating to the prevention and control of
these diseases, it is unnecessary to refer to them again here. It is proposed, therefore,
at this point to deal only with the question of arrangements for attending to
the health of expectant and nursing mothers and children, and to give a short
description of the scheme in operation in the Borough.
Although it was not then known as a " Maternity and Child Welfare
Scheme," works in this connection were inaugurated in 1906, and in the discussions
that arise from time to time as to which was the first district to begin infant
welfare work, the name of St. Marylebone is always mentioned as at least being
among the earliest.
The composition of the scheme now in existence has been very frequently
described in annual reports. As is well known, it contains voluntary and official
elements. Of the voluntary elements, to the nature of which reference is made
later, those for which the St. Marylebone Health Society is responsible bulk
largest, and the Council and the inhabitants of the Borough are greatly indebted
to this body and those who work for it for what they have done and what they are
doing in relation to maternal and child welfare.
Apart from the Health Society, however, there are other bodies that assist,
and that are more or less definitely linked up to the main scheme, the connecting
link being the Public Health Department of the Council. Amongst these bodies
may be mentioned the Church Army, the Western General Dispensary, Queen
Charlotte's Hospital and Middlesex Hospital. The two latter, in addition to providing
lying-in accommodation, arrange for attention to be given to out-door
patients as well, and conduct ante-natal clinics and infant consultations. Less
definitely part of the scheme, but still doing very valuable work and helping whenever
possible, are St. Agatha's Home, The Home of the Little Company of