London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Merton and Morden 1944
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Merton & Morden]
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INFANT MORTALITY.
There were 33 deaths of infants under one year of age,
of whom 16 were male and 17 female. Two of these deaths
occurred in illegitimate infants.
The infant mortality rate for the year is 28.7 per 1,000
live births, a rate which compares very favourably with 49 per
1,000, the last published figure for England and Wales as a
whole.
While it is always somewhat dangerous to draw dogmatic
conclusions from local figures which are relatively small, the
infant mortality rate for the district has been consistently low
for a good many years, and while perhaps it is wise to hesitate
to claim that this is largely due to the standard of public health
achievement in the district in case it might be difficult at some
future time to repudiate responsibility for a sudden unexpected
reverse in these favourable figures, it is generally acknowledged
that there is a close association between the two
standards.
| Female | 5 days | Prematurity. |
| Female | 1 week | Prematurity. |
| Male | 2 hours | Prematurity—twin birth. |
| Male | 2 hours | Prematurity—twin birth. |
| Male | 3 days | Ac. Broncho pneumonia—Congenital heart disease. |
| Male | 1 month | Gastro Enteritis. |
| Female | 12 hours | Spina bifida. |
| Male | 2 days | Erythroblastosis foetalis. |
| Female | 1 week | Prematurity—maternal pre eclampsia. |
| Female | 9 hours | Congenita] atelectasis—prematurity. |
| Female | 4 hours | Prematurity—toxaemia of pregnancy (Twins). |
| Female | 1 hour | Prematurity—toxaemia of pregnancy (Twins). |
| Female | 3 days | Prematurity. |
| Female | 2 weeks | Broncho pneumonia following gastro enteritis. |
| Male | Newly both Patent inter auricular septum of heart. | |
| Male | 3 weeks | Asthenia and marasmus. |
Out of the total of 33 infant deaths under one year, 16 or
just under half were neonatal deaths, that is they died within
a month of birth. It is always of interest to study these deaths
and their causes, as one of the outstanding achievements of
public health has been to reduce the infant mortality by two-
17