2
--
1000 births in the first year of life. By 1938 the corresponding
figure had been reducea to 53.
During only the past four years
th maternal mortality rate has been recuced by 35 per cent. Now
a nation-wide midwifery service has been organised on a salaried
full-time basis, and still bett er results are expected.
Care of School Children.
Compulsory education begins in Britain for children at five
years of age, and between the ages of five and fourteen the great
majority of them come under the care of the School Medical Service.
In the public Elementary Schools the School Medical Service annually
examines about one-third of the chiluren in attendance.
Children
newly admitted to the schools, those of eight and those of twelve
years of age, are regularly examined for the discovery of minor
ailments, definite diseases of any kind, and physical or mental
defects.
should any defect be found, the child's parents are informed
and the school nurse or a voluntary worker watches over the case to
help ensure that proper treatment is obtained. If the parents are
ot in a position to obtain adequate treatment, provision is made
by the public authorities for treatment in a school clinic or
hospital.
Extra nourishment, and above all milk, is provided for expectant
and nursing mothers as part of the general service for maternity and
chila welfare.
Milk and other foods are provided for school
children, either free of cost or at a reduced price; nearly
9,000,000 gallons of aried or liquid milk were supplied in 1938.
For the children whose parents can afford to pay for it, the milk
supplied in school costs less than half the normal price, while
children of necessitous parents receive the milk free.
Special schools or classes are provided for children who are
found to be blind, deaf, mentally defective and so on.
schools or classes are sometimes provided by the authorities,
These
and