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Almost half the Infantile deaths are due to Premature Birth,
Congenital defects or Weakness or Injury at Birth, i.e., chiefly to
causes which operate at or before birth.
Diarrhœal diseases are responsible more than any other condition
for the remaining deaths, the number of deaths from this
cause being 18, and other Infectious diseases 8 deaths.
Special efforts are made, by means of house-to-house visitation
in the poorer districts, to prevent or mitigate conditions likely to
favour the occurrence of diarrhœal diseases, e.g., the proper
cleansing of houses, courts and passages, the prevention of accumulations
of refuse, and the encouragement of sanitation
generally. Plainly-worded leaflets are distributed, giving instructions
as to the storing of food, the feeding and management
of infants, and the prevention of diarrhœa.
Deaths under one year of age of Illegitimate Children.—There
were 54 illegitimate births registered during the
year, and 12 deaths under 1 year of age of illegitimate children
occurred. This gives an infantile mortality among illegitimate
children of 222, i.e., more than four times the infantile mortality
among children born in wedlock.
The number of legitimate births registered was 1,475, and
the number of deaths under 1 year of age of legitimate children
was 76. This gives an infantile mortality among legitimate clildren
of 51.