The Phoenix index., 1940-03-02
IN THE SOCIAL REALM
Needs Of Race
Discussed AT
State Meeting

VI0sG WGGAlll6
WASHINGTON LAMP At a
statewide conference held at Ra-
leigh, N. c., on the Better Care for
Mothers and Babies, one of the
finest papers was that read by DR..
Walter j. Hughes of the North
Carolina State Board of Health, lat
er published by the U. S. Depart
ment Of Labor, Children's Bureau.
"a discussion of the Negroes
needs is a complicated one" the
paper reads. The welfare of Ne
gro mothers and babies is depend
ent upon their social and economic
back ground, This background can
not be expressed as single func-
ton, for it has many ramificatiOnS.
Generally speaking, Negro moth
educational, social and economic
status, however. renders them
more acute. Therefore, to know he1
needs there must be an interpre-
tation and appraiSement of all the
forces that contribute to her life.
"The health and welfare of the
child are wrapped in the health
and Well-being of the mother
hence the care of this whole prob
lem is the mother. The physical fit
ness of the infant she is to bring
into the world and his normal de-
velopment in the first years OF life
are largely dependent upon her in
telligence and economic conditions.
"Her first need is education in
personal and community hygiene
and the principles of healthy liv-
ing, in infant hygiene and infant
feeding, in training the infant in
health behavior in the need for i'm
munization against the preventable
diseases, and in the intelligent uti-
lization of physicians, hospitals,
and clinics. This education should
be both intensive and should be
extended even down to the girls in
high school, fol every girl is
potential mother.
SECOND NEED
1.-The second need is to improve
her economic status. Morbidity and
mortality have always Travelled the
roads of ignorance and poverty.
The sanitary, social and economic
status of a people is reflected in
their infant mortality. The commu-
nifty existed long before the infant,
but the mother is a product of the
environmental conditions of The
community. Traditional status and
low income are important detri-
ments to the welfare of mother
and baby. When the Negroes So
cial and economic status measures
up to that of other persons, there
will be equality of maternal and
infAE* care.
1.-THE poverty of the Negro moth
er is a health hazard not only to
her but to her unborn child. She is
forced to work until the very hour
of her confinement. Quite fire.
quently she must leave her bed
within a. week after confinement to
gain the bare necessities of life.
These mothers, undernouriShed,
poorly housed, overworked, made
Quately paid, and sometimes in tho
throes of tuberculosis nephritis,
heart disease of syphilis, go Oh
bring more babies into the world
to be brought up undernourished,
pale and anemic and without a
fair chance in life.
THIRD NEED
"The third need is COmmunica-
ton and transportation. At present
this presents no great problem to
| the urban Negro. but it does pre-
sent serious problem to the rltral
Negro. He lives off the highway
even away from the bywayS. He
has no telephone communication;
his means of transportation are
too meager to be of value when the
need is most urgent. Effective
means of transportation and rapid
communication are essential to OBJ
stetric service How many mothers
and babies perish for lack of these
| facilities, is hard to estimate.
Improve obstetric and pediatric
| service is certainly one of the most
urgent needs. Modern methods are
just as essential to Negroes as to
any other persons.
From the years 1888 to 1887 in
elusive, of the 113,647 Negro infants
born, 81 percent were delivered by
physicians and SO per cent by mid
wives. While it is desired and i'm
perative that modern facilities used
by trained physicians should be
utilized by Negro women, it is one
of the tragedies of modern civili-
zation that the obstetric practice
for Negro women is largely in the
Z hands of midwives and will be foI
Is years to come-probably for Sc