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23
Of the 1,728 deaths recorded during the year 428 were
of infants under one year of age.
During the past ten years the infantile death-rate had
fallen from 159 to 103 per 1,000 births registered.
In 1910 there.was an increase to 123.
It is disheartening to those who hoped that the lower rates
which prevailed, especially in the past four years, would be
maintained, for the infantile death-rate for the year 1911
suddenly rose to 143 per 1,000 births.
This increased mortality was foreshadowed, and it is
correct to state that the lower rates of recent years were largely
dependent upon meteorological conditions.
During the summer months of last year the infantile
mortality rate in Deptford was as high as 251 for the 13 weeks
ending the 30th of September, that is to say : one-fourth of the
children born died before reaching the age of one year. This
is more appalling when we consider that only a small portion
of the Borough is poverty stricken.
The largest number of infant deaths is found to be in those
districts where the people are poor and ignorant and where the
three great factors in the production of infantile mortality, of
improper feeding, uncleanliness and undue exposure prevail.
It is the above alarming figures which have brought home
to the Council the urgent necessity for carrying out the long
reiterated advice of the Public Health Committee, and for taking
steps to combat this terrible sacrifice of infant life by means of
the personal ministrations of more Health Visitors and other
measures stated in this report. Towards the end of the year
the Council sanctioned the appointment of an additional Health
Visitor and also a Female Sanitary Inspector. In future years
I feel certain that the Health Committee will look back with
pride and satisfaction on the fact that they have taken an