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giving rise to the terrible waste of infant life which is so generally
deplored at the present time are found in a virulent form in at least
one area in the healthiest Borough in London.
The mortality in the Netherwood Street area is also high,
and it is probable that a detailed examination of certain
other areas would reveal somewhat similar results. In spite of our
comparatively favourable mortality figure last year it is evident that
there is still much to be done in Hampstead to protect infant life.
Nothing could be more mistaken than to take the vital statistics of a
whole district as indications of the vital conditions in any given part
of the district; and the fact that the infantile mortality of Hampstead
as a whole is comparatively low furnishes an additional reason for
increased preventive action in those less favoured portions of the
Borough where it is exceptionally high.
In considering the preventive measures that appear to be most
urgently called for at the present time it will be useful briefly to consider
some of the chief conditions giving rise to infantile mortality.
These are exceedingly numerous, and it would be impossible to deal
with them adequately in one Report. Broadly speaking, they may
be arranged under two headings as follows:—
(A) Defective hygiene of the environment.
(B) Defective hygiene of the person.
(A) U nder the former heading are included the conditions that are
spoken of collectively as "insanitation." Formerly, the importance
of these conditions was over estimated, but at the present time it is
in danger of being under estimated. There is now a tendency to
regard personal hygiene as the only matter of any consequence in
the problem of infantile mortality. Undoubtedly the personal care
the infant receives is the chief factor in the problem, but it would
be a profound mistake to allow our enthusiasm for the new and
attractive work of the promotion of personal hygiene to blind us to
the importance of the sanitation of surroundings. In what follows
I have given some consideration to certain unwholesome conditions
of environment which seem to be of special importance in this
connection.
The term "insanitation" comprises many conditions, by far
the most important of which is dirt. This may be considered
under several heads.