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On the other hand, there is to be recorded a decline in the
death-rate from the congenital group of diseases as compared with
the previous year.
Preventive Measures.
The causes responsible for these 472 infants' deaths were
inquired into by the Health Department of the Council. The
chief preventive measures carried out by the Council in relation to
infant mortality may be classified under the following heads :—
1. Notification of Births Act;
2. Health Visitors ;
3. Infants' Milk Depot.
Notification of Births Act.
This useful Act was passed to provide for the early notification
of births to the Medical Officer of Health, and so to avoid the
delay which arose through late registration of births. The Act
has now been in force for six years, and has proved a very powerful
factor in the reduction which has taken place in the infant mortality-rate
of London and other large urban centres. The Act
provides that the birth of every child shall be notified to the Medical
Officer of Health within thirty-six hours. The notification is "in
addition to and not in substitution for the requirements of any Act
relating to the registration of births," and applies to any child
born "after the expiration of the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy,
whether alive or dead." In case of default in notification, a
penalty of twenty shillings is provided.
During 1913, 3,633 notifications of births were received. Of
this number, 705 (i.e., 20 per cent.) were notified by medical
practitioners, 1,026 (i.e., 28 per cent.) by midwives, and 1,902
(i.e., 52 per cent.) by other persons. The number of births notified
from each of the three sub-districts of the Borough were as
follows :—
East Battersea 1,663
North-West Battersea 1,189
South-West Battersea 781
The number of births registered in Battersea during 1913 was
4,240. The proportion of notified to registered births was therefore
85.4 per cent., as compared with 83.5 per cent. in 1912, and
69 per cent. in 1911.
It will be noted that the obligation to notify under the provisions
of the Act is being more readily carried out, and during
the year under report no proceedings were taken by the Council
to enforce the provisions of the Act in this respect.