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INFANTILE MORTALITY.
The total number of deaths under one year was 462, compared
with 526, but, as the number of births declined from 7,505 to 6,301,
the rate per 1,000 births is 74 compared with 71 in 1920 and 82 in
1919. The rate for the County, which was 76 in 1920, was 81 in
1921.
Compared with other London boroughs, Camberwell is seventh in
the list; while in 1920 it was tenth and in 1919 sixth. It is bracketed
in this position with Battersea, a borough which in previous year 3
has often shown some similarity with us, and which was one of the
first to start a milk depot.
As the rate has such a direct bearing on the new crusade that is
leading to so much ante-natal and post-natal work all over England,
it is interesting to note how we have progressed or otherwise in the
lessening of those diseases which take a large toll of young life.
The mortality of the first four weeks is worthy of special consideration,
in that here is felt the special effects of deaths from
premature birth and the other causes which have been held up as
a justification for ante-natal clinics. There were 181 deaths in the
first four weeks, compared with 219 in ]920. In 1919 for the same
period there were 181 deaths, with 5,183 births. From premature
birth in this division there were 90 deaths, the same number in
1920 and 93 in 1919. Closely bound up in this regard are the deaths
during the first month from marasmus and defective vitality ; these
were 27 in 1921, 57 in 1920, and 34 in 1919. Examining the totals
for 1921, one is struck by the absence of deaths from measles and
the fall in the numbers from bronchitis and pneumonia, especially
for the latter. It is also particularly gratifying to report that there
were no deaths from overlying. Those from diarrhoea and enteritis
were 21 more than last year, but, considering the hot summer, one
can fairly claim that we came off very well.
There was a slight increase in tuberculous diseases.
The year under review was a hot one, and one would have
expected the diarrhoea death rate to have been much higher if one
were to gauge it by the figures of 1911, but one has to realise the
enormous change that has taken place in the chances of contamination
from manure in the streets on account of the substitution
of motor traction for that of the horse. Apart, however, from such
exceptional years as this, the infantile mortality has tended to fall
steadily since 1901, and this is a point made by the supporters of
the Maternity scheme, for they say that although the general mortality
went down before that date, only was there a reduction at the
beginning of the present century, when the special efforts in the way
of health visitors had their inception. The reduction so far as London
is concerned first showed itself in 1900, and with the exception of
some bad years, such as 1911,1913,1914, 1917, and 1918, has shown