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Show Child Health Day, May 1, Is Dedicated This Year To Campaign for Better Birth Registrations . ' '' 1 ' ' - ! A BIRTH Certificate for Every Baby in the U. S. A." is the slogan for Child Health Day, celebrated cele-brated on May 1. Since 1923 May Day has become traditionally the children's day, and in 1928 congress passed a joint resolution requesting and authorizing the President to issue is-sue an annual proclamation designating desig-nating May 1 as a day on which all groups interested in bettering conditions con-ditions for children might unite and rededicate themselves to this cause. The war emergency and selective service has demonstrated the value of complete and accurate birth registration reg-istration at the time of birth. During Dur-ing the first 18 months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor the U. S. Civil Service commission alone asked the Bureau of the Census to make 500,000 searches of records for proof of citizenship when birth records rec-ords were unavailable. These and subsequent searches have cost the federal government a million and half dollars and required the services serv-ices of 800 clerks and typists. State vital statistics offices and the Bureau of the Census have been flooded with requests for delayed birth registration from great numbers num-bers of people who have had to prove citizenship to obtain jobs in war industries. So a birth certificate is your "first citizenship paper." Most all states have laws governing these birth registrations, but despite these laws the Bureau of the Census estimates the nation has a backlog of almost 55 million persons who were not reg- this important work include the General Gen-eral Federation of Women's Clubs, the Mothers' Congress, the Association Associ-ation of Collegiate Alumnae and other oth-er women's organizations throughout through-out the country. The war has brought a bumper crop of babies. Since Pearl Harbor more than 10 million births have been recorded in this country. 1943 set a record of more than 3 million. Proper registration, which includes information on health, is important in the proper treatment and allocation alloca-tion of funds under the various federal fed-eral laws, such as maternal and child health care, etc. For instance, under the Social Security Se-curity act federal funds are available avail-able to states to promote these welfare wel-fare programs on the basis of the number of registered live births in the state. Much of the money appropriated ap-propriated through the social security secu-rity act is earmarked for service in rural areas where community health facilities are limited, but it is in the rural areas where birth registration is least complete. Birth records also are essential in determining the accuracy of gains and losses in the infant mortality rate and the causes of these deaths. Based on the records available, from 1915 to 1942 both infant mortality mor-tality and maternal mortality have been cut about 60 per cent. In the decade 1933 to 1943 infant mortality has been reduced from 58 to 40 per 1,000 births. For every 3 babies who died in 1933 during the first year of their lives, only 2 died in 1943. In the same period maternal mortality mor-tality was pared down 58 per cent. While 62 mothers died for every 10,000 births in 1933 only 26 died in 1943. Depends on Registrar. The key to complete registration of babies is the local registrar. In 1941 there were approximately 30,-000 30,-000 of these public servants charged with the responsibility of gathering birth and death certificates. In many states the duties are imposed on civil officials who have other duties, du-ties, such as the town clerk. In other oth-er states the duties fall upon any citizen who is public spirited enough to assume them. The roster of local lo-cal registrars includes housewives, pharmacists, merchants, physicians' wives, farmers, undertakers and individuals in-dividuals in other callings. Fees paid to the registrars run from 20 cents to $1, but in a survey of six states, 72 per cent of these folks earned $50 or less a year. Less than 2 per cent earned more than $500. Improvement in the records, however, how-ever, is due to the work of these 30,000 local workers who depend upon the assistance of the doctors, nurses, midwives or others attendant attend-ant at births. Child Health officials say now is the time to bring mothers into the picture so that if every one else forgets, for-gets, these mothers will do their part to make sure that there is on file a birth certificate for every baby in the U. S. A. istered at the time of birth. The census in 1940 revealed that in some states birth registration is only about 75 per cent complete and in some of the southern states less than 50 per cent of the current births are registered. In the ttation as a whole, the percentage of registrations registra-tions was 92.5 per cent. , Country Records Less Complete. On the average, rural counties had less complete birth registrations registra-tions than urban counties. There are scores of instances in which a proper birth certificate is essential. Evidence of age, citizenship citizen-ship and family relationships may be required when a person enters school, obtains a work permit, auto driver's license, pilot's license, marriage mar-riage license, nurse's license, to carry car-ry firearms, an insurance policy, to qualify for voting, to enlist in the armed services, to enter civil service, serv-ice, to qualify for social security benefits, for federal pensions, to obtain ob-tain employment in industry, passports, pass-ports, old age assistance, right of inheritance, to establish claims for servicemen's dependent's allowance allow-ance and a score of other reasons. The children's bureau of the department de-partment of labor has played a major ma-jor role in the development of more complete birth registrations. Other organizations which have helped in breeders, cost $49 including shipping. ship-ping. Our friends are always flabbergasted flab-bergasted when we tell them that was goat milk they had for lunch. Actually, goat milk, properly handled, han-dled, has no distinctive taste, is a little richer than cow milk and naturally nat-urally homogenized. We bought two inoculated seven-weeks-old pigs in April, slaughtered them in December and had 460 pounds of pork at a cost of 22 cents a pound. From our two does and buck we'll have 30 to 40 young three or four-pound rabbits in a year. They are easier to dress than chickens, chick-ens, require less than five minutes care a day and cost only 8 to 10 cents a pound. |