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50
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
The number of deaths in the several sub-districts was as
follows:—Clapham 42, Putney 7, Streatham 29, Tooting 29, and
Wandsworth 57.
The death-rate was in the Borough .69 per 1,000, compared
with .72 in 1900, and with .85 for the whole of London, compared
with 76. The rate for this Borough is therefore slightly
under, while the rate for the whole of London is slightly above
last year.
In the sub-districts the death-rate from Diarrhoea and
Zymotic Enteritis was, in Clapham .81, Putney .28, Streatham
.39, Tooting 1.69, and Wandsworth .82.
The rate for Tooting is very high, being more than double
the rate for the whole of London.
This high rate is largely, if not wholly, due to the improper
feeding of infants, and an examination of the localities where
these deaths have occurred shows that 90 per cent. of the deaths
occur among the labouring classes. The death-rates in the subdistricts
corroborates this, the rate being lowest in Putney, where
there is a small percentage of that class, and highest in Tooting,
where the percentage is greater.
Again, in a large proportion of the cases the infants are
hand-fed, as the mothers have to go out to work, and, in consequence,
digestive troubles are the result.
Of the total number of deaths 142, or 86.6 per cent., occurred
among infants under one year of age.
86 of these deaths occurred in the month of August, and 27
in September, thus showing a marked relation to the temperature.
The number of deaths from Enteritis was 56, making a total
of 214, compared with 240 in 1900.