Statistical analysis of infant mortality and its causes in the United Kingdom / by Helen M. Blagg.

Blagg, Helen M.

Date:: 1910

Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Statistical analysis of infant mortality and its causes in the United Kingdom / by Helen M. Blagg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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thing. The Midwives Act, the Notification of Births Act, 1907, and the Children Act, 1908, as has already been said, have been steps in the right direction. The adoption of the Notification of Births Act, however, is optional, and it has not yet been adopted by all local authorities throughout the country. Unless it is in force, the health visitor, even if she exists at all, cannot possibly visit the home early enough to be of much service. It is the first few weeks which are so important in the life of the child. (/) Influences towards a more Natural and Healthy Way of Living; Moral and Religious Teaching. Finally, it must be said that even if given a clean sty the pig cannot be made a cleanly animal. It is moral and educational influences which are the most important factors. Health visitors, education, sanitation, legislation, milk depots, are only means to an end. Machinery alone will achieve little ; the personal element behind it counts for far more. Motherhood and domesticity will decay where the ideals are degraded and the nature is debased. Anything which tends to raise the ideal and the spiritual side of life will tend to lower infant mortality. Where children are looked upon as the “gift of God,” there they are not allowed to “ slip through the fingers ” ; where they are in the way and not wanted, they very soon “go back,” to use the phraseology of the midlands.