The Mena weekly star., 1921-09-08
DaC|UN TRIES TO
 SAVE CHILDHOOD
x..= -sznment of Youth, Retarded by <Ss< Pushed as National Health H<asure-Protection for the
 Working Youth.
international News service1

zTazhineton, Sept. 3.-Belgium IS ,.s4z;.,R out a program for the conser- s43;e8 of childhood, according to in sasa.ation reaching the Children's Bu- I..s#l sf the Department of Labor. zzs,<s ;ntelligence, determination and ...>siz# effort triumph over conquest, .s's. s.d famine is wildly portrayed in
 zzz1Sr read at the second Interna- <=..,.s5 f Conference on the Protection of <5,:{5kaod. recently held in Brussels, h1 nr. Rene Sand, of the University of Rfussels, copy of which has reached Washington.
 According to this paper, even dur indT the wears of occupation, when the <s.snrnment had left Belgian soil and fka e4iv central co-ordinating agency ..ssee fhe voluntary Comite National, snbIie health activities were started oll a hitherto unknown scale, and for fhe first two years there was an actual @3eel;ne in infant mortality. Dr. Sand zeconnts for this in part by the cessa- ton of industrial work for women.
 Retarded Full Year.
 The average Belgian child was, at fEa time of the armistice, one full year backUard in normal development; the weight of the average Brussels schoo.boy was three pounds below normal. while the average schoolgirl TIT seven pounds below normal.
 The first step in the medical recon xf4nction of industry was the estab- Hzhnaent of an independent Labor Medical Service, which includes in it's 4t xkoo4rna tf q ra4 mothers and nursing working women And the care of the health Of working chf1dren. The service immediately for r111]ated constructive program which enlisted the cooperation of all agen- ciez concerned in the promotion of pub1ic health of working mothers and fh1ir children.
 n the United States eighteen States provide for the physical examination of every child entering industry, but f,o Sfate has provided for examination of Werking children at regular inter <a1z. Belgium has adopted the ad- v4nced program of medical exami- n4fion for every juvenile not later fba11 month after it has entered an industrial occupation, to be repeated once year until the child reaches eikhfeen, and oftener in case of dis
 Working Youth Protected.
 Belgium has realized that health 0fofeetion in the community must go h1Hd In hand with health protection .n in1ustry, and Dr. Sand emphasizes tho following points: General public health work, child welfare, housing, tho festriction of alcohol consumption and Education and recreation both for adults and children.
 4 national children's board has been ss{4bIished, which is maintained by public and private funds. The child W1Ifare program includes the period ic61 free examination of children under fhx6e years of age, brought by their mothers for examination; the estab- lishment of free medical dispensaries 4eSS expectaht mothers, the diffusion of Knowledge relating to infant health and maternal nursing and the super 41Si0n of boarded-out children under seven years of age. The cost of child WeIf1re work is borne one-half by the st1t<, one-fourth by the province and oI1e-{ourth by the municipality.