In the Social Studies Circle

Among the important subjects taken up by the “Social Studies Circle” was the subject of the care of the child. Dr. Jamal Karam Harfush gave a talk on the services devoted to the health of the child and of the expectant mother, saying: the civilizations of today consider this task society's first duty.

She offered us a study of the historical development that has taken place in this regard, pointing out that child health services began from a humanitarian impulse, and that out of them there then sprang the modern methods these services follow today. Finally she came to the most important passage of her lecture, the study of child health services in Lebanon, noting that these services in Lebanon go back no further than the year 1920, and that they combine the private method and the public method.

In the private method, the child's family takes upon itself the responsibility of caring for him, of deciding for him, and of the matter of a physician's supervision of his growth. The public method, on the other hand, rests upon services performed by private institutions, most of which concern themselves with the inhabitants of the large cities. What we need most is to carry the question of the child over from a private question to a public one, with the government undertaking to create official bureaus, attached to the Ministry of Health, devoted to the health of the child.

And we must acquaint readers with the important project put forward by Dr. Harfush: a project for the establishment of programs devoted to the health of the child and of the expectant mother in Lebanon. We shall bring the readers of “The Woman's Voice,” in the coming issue, the detailed particulars of this project, whose realization every Lebanese hopes to see.