The following account of the work of the League's Child Welfare Unit in Roumania is taken from a report by Dr. Habgood, Medical Director of the Unit.

Home-visiting in Roumania has been attended with considerable difficulty owing to the fact that the districts to be covered are widely scattered, and that the majority of the families live in the outskirts of the town, which cover a large area. As far as possible, each child is visited once a fortnight in its home, the visiting nurse of the unit being aided by Roumanian girls. On account of the bad roads and the straggling formation of the town, it has

have to be covered and the neglected state of the roads.

At Jassy two welfare centres equipped by the American Red Cross existed when the League unit started work there last September. One of these was opened last June and the other a month later. In December another child welfare centre was opened at Socola, in the poorest part of the town.

The diseases most prevalent among the babies in this town are pneumonia, bronchitis, gastritis, debility and skin diseases. Here also a decided improvement as regards the general cleanliness of the children has taken place since the unit has been at work, and cases of scabies and eczema are now

rare.

The visiting is now carried out much more methodically nearly, all the children attending the child

Roumanian of Campu

welfare centres being visited at home once a week. Lungu in national dress.

At Constantza, where the child welfare work is entirely under Roumanian control, the chief difficulty consists in the mixture of races, of which there are no less than nine: Roumanians, Turks, Greeks, Bulgars, Tartars, German, Gypsies, Jews, etc. The town suffered badly during the war, and there is a deficiency of water owing to the destruction of pumps. The housing problem is also a serious one and the town is overcrowded.

Generally speaking, there is a great dearth in all forms of medical relief in the country districts of Roumania, and it is there that the infantile death-rate is highest. A midwife is supposed to exist in each of the larger villages, and her duty is to attend confinements in the neighbouring hamlets. Some of these midwives have received regular training, but for the most part the work is undertaken by "wise women whose only qualification is that they are old and have attended many confinements. The confinements practised by these "wise women" resemble those of certain primitive races.

It is evident from the foregoing that there is an urgent need of midwives with some infant welfare training in the country districts, and it was decided that the best work the unit could do would be to train girls from the country and send them back to the villages. It was also arranged that the unit should assist the Prince Mircea Society in this work. For the child welfare school, an old house was found in Bucharest, called the Xenocrat, which had been used as a hospital. It is intended to convert this building into a school for 25 pupils, who will live there, under supervision, with 5 British sisters. Connected with the building will be a consultation and dispensary clinic, and the area surrounding the school will be divided into districts for home visiting.

The clinic at Zilina, which was the first one to be established, is also the most important one in the matter of size and equipment.

1 Roumanian Child Welfare Society. See Bulletin of the League of Red Cross Societies, Vol. II, No, 6-7, March-April 1921, page 221.

See L. O. R. C. S. Bulletin, vol. II, No. 6-7 March-April, pages 222-226.