London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hackney 1918
Report on the sanitary condition of the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney for the year 1918
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The annual death-rates per 1,000 births for the County of London and the Borough of Hackney from these causes during the four years 1911-1914 were as follows:—
| Puerperal fever. | Other complications of child-birth | Total mortality from child-birth. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 1.48 | 1.86 | 3.06 |
| Hackney | 1.54 | 1.54 | 3.08 |
Expressed in words these figures mean that during the four
years in question (1911-1914) there died in London 1,356 mothers,
and in Hackney 66 mothers from puerperal fever and other
complications of child-birth.
On this subject the Chief Medical Officer of the Local Government
Board, Dr. A. Newsholme, C.B., makes the following remarks
in his report on maternal mortality in connection with childbearing:—
"The majority of the deaths of mothers from childbearing
are caused by puerperal fever, haemorrhage and convulsions.
Most cases of these conditions are well within the
range of preventive medicine, including in this the early treatment
of illness. The prevention of early infant mortality is
inseparable from that of mortality of mothers in child-bearing.
Excessive mortality of mothers in child-bearing means also an
excessive proportion of still-born infants, and an excessive
proportion of deaths of infants in the early weeks after
birth."
The figures quoted above refer only to the mortality amongst
mothers; they take no account of deaths associated with, but not
classed as due to, pregnancy and child-bearing, the commonest of
which are heart disease, pneumonia and tuberculosis; nor do they
take account of cases of partial recovery, with subsequent suffering
and ill-health.