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16 Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
The Infantile Mortality for the year is much under that in
1918.
This is the lowest infantile mortality ever recorded in the
Borough.
With the exception of Putney, all the rates are much under
the decennial average. The high rate in Putney was due to the
comparatively large number of deaths from premature birth and
congenital debility, 25 out of the 41 deaths having been due to
these causes. Perseverance in ante-natal work in this area is the
chief remedy, and steps have been taken to ensure that prospective
mothers in the small area in which the deaths occurred are visited
and advised to attend the ante-natal clinic. Another reason for
the high mortality in Putney is that very few births occurred
among the well-to-do, due almost wholly to war conditions. The
mortality among this class is always very low, and as a consequence
the general infantile mortality is unduly raised.
Tooting, on the other hand, shows an exceptionally low
mortality compared with the average for the previous 10 years.
The following Table shows the percentage of deaths at different
age periods to the total infantile mortality for the year and for the
five previous years. It will be noted that there has been a large
increase in the percentage under four weeks compared with the
five years' average, and a slight increase at three to six months,
while at the other age periods the rate was lower.