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Show Improve ' Child Life "One of the most essential things for the proper carrying out of programs to improve child life Is the safeguarding of the lives and health of mothers. Without the proper kind of mother who remains in good health it is difficult diffi-cult to secure the best type of care for children," says Dr. Fred Lyman Adair of the University o: Chicago, chairman of the White House Conference Committee on Prenatal and Maternal Care, in commenting on May Day, National Na-tional Child Health Day. His Committee reported that, with regard to saving the lives of mothers, the United States lags behind many of the nations of the world. Efforts to improve the situation should begin at the marriage license bureau with instructions in-structions emphasizing the need of adequate prenatal care, for, according ac-cording to Dr. Adair, "Three-fourths "Three-fourths of the maternal deaths are due to controllable causes." The importance of adequate prenatal care in reducing the number of maternal deaths from all causes and especially the second sec-ond greatest cause, kidney complications, com-plications, is emphasized also in the study of maternal mortality conducted by the United States Children's Bureau. With the cooperation co-operation of State Health Departments, Depart-ments, Medical Societies, and attending at-tending physicians and midwives, the Bureau studied every maternal mater-nal death in fifteen states: Alabama, Ala-bama, California, Kentucky, Mary land, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ne-braska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. "It is evident," Dr. Frances C. Rothert of the Children's Chil-dren's Bureau says, "that appreciation appre-ciation by women of the importance import-ance of prenatal care is far from general." Infection (puerperal septicemia) forms the principal cause of matte ma-tte White House Conference and ternal deaths, according to both the Children's Bureau. In cases studied by the Children's Bureau, forty-five per cent of the deaths from infection followed abortions. Since part of the general purpose pur-pose of National Child Health Day, according to the American Child Health Association, is to see that every infant is bom healthy of a healthy mother who will live to love her child and take care of her family, every community needs to give careful consideration to the recommendations recommenda-tions of the White House Conference Confer-ence Committee on Prenatal and Maternal Care. These include a nation-wide program for prenatal, delivery, and postnatal care, with adequate facilities in all communities commun-ities for such care; the establishment establish-ment of bureaus of maternal and child hygiene in state, - county, and local departments of health; the education of newly married couples, expectant mothers and the general public concerning proper care of mothers before and after delivery and the danger of abortions. |