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23
INFANT MORTALITY.
Infant mortality has reference to the deaths of children under
one year of ape—i.e., the proportion which the deaths of such
infants in any given year bears to every thousand children born in
the same year. Infant mortality varies widely in different districts,
being as low as 80 per 1,000 in some localities, and as high
as 250 per 1,000 in others. It is not difficult to understand, therefore,
that the infant mortality of a district has come to be recognised
as a sensitive index of the sanitary condition of that district,
as at this period of its life the infant is very susceptible to its
environment, a low rate indicating (other things being equal) a
healthy community, a high rate the reverse.
In my Annual Report for 1907 the subject of infant mortality
was dealt with very fully, with the object of setting forth the
position of Battersea in relation thereto, and the measures which
had been adopted by the Council, and the results obtained, in their
efforts to reduce the infantile death rate in their district. I purpose
restricting, therefore, the report on this subject during 1908
to a statement as to the results obtained during that year.
Infant Mortality in Battersea in 1908.
During the year 1908, 494 deaths of infants were registered
in the Borough of Battersea. The total number of births recorded
during the year was 4,629, and the infant mortality rate was 107
per 1,000 births. In 1907 the rate was 115 per 1,000 births,
which had been the lowest infant death rate ever previously recorded
in Battersea.