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22
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
The Infantile Mortality, measured by the deaths of children
under one year of age to the number of births registered,
was 129 per 1,000 births, there having been a total of 306
such deaths during the year, as compared with 310, 259, and
261, the figures for the three preceding years. The number
for the County of London was 129 per 1,000 births, the
average for the past five years being 114 per 1,000 births.
The average for the past five years in Greenwich has been
110 per 1,000 births, from which it will be seen that this
year there have been 19 more deaths for each 1,000 births.
The greater portion of this increased fatality being due to
the large number of deaths from Diarrhoea during the hot
summer months.
It is with much regret that I have to record the fact that
the Ladies' Voluntary Health Society for Greenwich has discontinued
its operations. The Secretary of this Society found
a difficulty in obtaining the continued services of suitable
visitors, and eventually such visitation as was carried out was
carried out by a few ladies who did this work in addition to,
and in conjunction with, their regular district visiting duty.
In this way a few streets were very well visited, but the
whole of the remaining district was left entirely alone, and
it was thought best by the Committee of this Society that it
should be dissolved. I regret this the more because of the
devoted efforts of a few ladies to the furtherance of this good
work, which certainly deserved greater recognition by the
leisured classes in the district than it has thus received. It
was thought that the mere fact of this almost defunct
Society professing to continue its operations was a distinct
disadvantage to the Borough in general by thus being somewhat
of a hindrance to the appointment of a properly
qualified health visitor by this Council.