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30
The question of infantile mortality and its prevention has been
brought prominently forward during 1906 by the National Conference
on Infantile Mortality, held in London on June 13th and
14th—the subject being dealt with administratively, educatively
and legislatively. The outcome of the Conference may be summed
up in the resolutions which were carried as follows:—
1. That the Education Department be urged to add instruction
in Elementary Hygiene with reference to the dietary and rearing
of infants, to their present scheme for systematically training
girls in the senior classes in the practice and principles of
personal hygiene and the elements of dietary.
2. That immediate legislation is required enabling Sanitary
Authorities to establish or support depots for the supply of pure,
or modified, or sterilized milk, and to defray any cost out of the
monies available for public health purposes.
3. That, in view of the information submitted, all still births
should be notified within 48 hours to the Medical Officer of
Health of the district in which they occur, and that no burial
should take place without a medical certificate.
4. That notification of all births be given within 48 hours to
the Medical Officer of Health of the district in which they occur.
5. That the question of the insurance of infant lives under 12
months is one demanding serious consideration, and, with a view
to receiving reliable information, the Government should be
asked to appoint a departmental committee of enquiry on the
whole question.
6. (a) That the period of one month.s abstention from factory
work away from home now imposed on mothers be extended to
at least three months, and that, on their return to work, evidence
must be produced satisfactory to the Local Authority that proper
provision has been made for the care of the child.