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NEW ZEALAND LEADS WAY IN BABY SAVING
(This is the fourth of a series of
articles by Miss Julia C. Lathrop, who
as chief of the children's bureau of
the United States department of
labor, Washington, is devoting her
life to the study of infant welfare.
The Day Book has arranged for the
full co-operation of the bureau, as
well as the personal attention of Miss
Lathrop in conducting a baby-saving
campaign Chicago.) Editor.
o o
BY JULIA C. LATHROP
(Chief of Children's Bureau, U. S.
Department of Labor.)
The infant mortality rate of New
Zealand has been for some time rec
ognized as the lowest of any country
in the world and it is stated that re
cent further reductions are due in
large measure to the activity of this
society.
As an example of its value, the con
sul general states that the work of
the society has reduced infant mor
tality in Dunedin, a residental city of
60,000 inhabitants, 50 per cent dur
ing five years, from 1907 to 1912.
Because of the absence of adequate
birth and death registration in the
United States, the infant death rate
of this country, as a whole, is un
known, but estimates tend to show it
is at least twice the rate in New Zea
land, which the registrar general of
that country reported in 1912 to be
51 per 1,000.
New -Zealand, hke certain of our
states, is a young and vigorous coun
try, with a scattered population and
with no-large cities, and there is every
reason to believe that similar volun
teer effort in this country would pro
duce similar results.
In view of the marked and growing
interest in the preservation of infant
health in th smaller cities and rural
communities of the United States, I
believe that the following account of
the methods of the New Zealand so
ciety is especially timely,. It wtfl be
seen that public interest is strongly
enlisted in its efforts.
Seventy volunteer committees in
as many districts maintain the edu
cation and nursing work in conjunc
tion with the central office, and the
government "itself assists in various
ways. . , . .,
Various' branches of the society
hold an annual meeting and members
of. the society meet the women, ex
change information, compare babies
and have a further opportunity to
seek information from the nurses and
physicians who have visited them
during the year.
The governor of New Zealand and
other officials make it a point to at
tend these conferences, and. it is
largely "due to the keen interest of
men high "in the government life in
the movement that people are encour
aged to co-operate so generally in the
work.
In order fully to realize what a re
markable work has been accom
plished it will be significant to com
pare the figures with the rates df
some of the states and cities in the
United States. The registration of
births in the United States is so in
complete that no figures for our
country as a whole can be quoted in
discussion of birth and death rates.
In a few states and individual cit
ies, however, the registration, al
though not complete, is good enough
to furnish figures which may be com
pared with those for New Zealand in,
order to study the relative success of t
the two areas in preserving the lives
of their babies.
The following rates are quoted
from the report of the bureau of the,
census, mortality statistics, 1911,
from the New Zealand reports, and
from the sixty-ninth report of births,
marriages and deaths in Massachu
setts. Deaths of infants under 1 years for
every 100 births, 1910:
New Zealand , v.f , ? , , , 5,1,
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