Our Daily News Letter

Health of Jewish Children in Russia Worse Than That of Non-Jewish Children; Problem Arouses Attention (By Our Moscow Correspondent)

The appaling condition of health among the Jewish children in Homel, as rerealed by the report of the medical examination conducted recently in the schools there, has begun to engage the attention of Jewish educational workers and pedagogues, especially because the conditions in Homel are regarded as possibly indicative of the state of affairs in the rest of Russia.

The report of Madam Cheifetz, one of the school doctors of Homei, (Homel is in White Russia and has a mixed population of Russians, Poles and Jews–ed.) showed that of the 1500 Jewish school children examined there only 31 per cent are healthy, figuring as such all those who do not suffer from conspicuous symptoms of sickness. It also showed that the health of the Jewish school children is much worse than that of the Polish and Russian school children.

The relative number of sick children among the Jews, Poles and Russians, is shown by the following table:

Tuberculosis of the lungs: Polish children, 21 per cent; in the general school named after Lenin, where children of all nationalities are to be found, but Russian children predominate, 10 per cent; in the Jewish schools, 24 per cent.

Poor blood circulation and heart trouble: Polish children, 16 per cent, the Lenin school, 17.6 per cent; Jewish schools, 19.4 per cent.

Anaemia: Polish, 35 per cent; Lenin school, 38 per cent; Jewish, 49.4 per cent.

An article in the “Emess” (January 13 issue) official organ of the Jewish Communists, commenting on the report, declares:

“Those figures speak for themselves! In this connection it should also be pointed that the large number of anaemic children in the Lenin school also includes the Jewish children who are attending that school. The reason why the Jewish children furnish the largest percentage of sickness is to be found, first, in the fact that the children in the Jewish schools come from the poorest level of the Jewish population, which is simultaneously the poorest class of the population in general. Secondly, the sanitary conditions in the homes of the Jewish children are very unfavorable. Thirdly, the question of health training has not yet been placed before the Jewish schools. Neither the Jewish pedagogues nor the educational organs have so far dealt with this problem. Fourthly, the sanitary conditions in the Jewish school are very bady. In small rooms–two or three–the work is conducted in three daily shifts. In many of the schools there is no recess period and the children do not get enough fresh air. As a rule many studies are loaded on the children but no attention is paid to their health.”

The writer urges the need of immediate steps to remedy the situation. The first obligation, he believes, rests upon the parents and for this purpose a propaganda of health training is suggested. With the “social initiative” of the parents organized and with the cooperation of the pedagogical councils, school doctors and the health and education departments in the cities, much can be accomplished, the writer points out.

“But at the same time,” he emphasizes, “the Jewish educational organs must begin a campaign for the improvement of the material condition of the Jewish school. Not only the Jewish educational bodies but the general educational bodies too must be made acquainted with the statistics regarding the state of health of the Jewish school children.

“So far we know of the medical investigation of the Jewish school children in Homel. Such medical investigations should be conducted in all Jewish schools.”