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Of the 295 deaths, 47 were due to Prematurity
and 99 were due to Diarrhœa and Enteritis. Only
3 deaths were certified as being due to Measles,
although some of the 56 deaths ascribed to Bronchitis
or Pneumonia were probably secondary to Measles.
So far as can be ascertained, 280 of the deaths
were those of legitimate infants and 15 those of illegitimate
infants. Accordingly we have the following
figures for infantile mortality:—
Infantile mortality (legitimate) 95.4
Infantile mortality (illegitimate) 214.6
Infantile mortality (all infants) 98.2
The infantile mortality for Bethnal Green, 98.2,
may be compared with the mortality for London, 80.
Comparing other boroughs, the extremes vary from
53 and 54 in Stoke Newington and Lewisham, to 114
in Shoreditch and 128 in St. Marylebone. Twenty
years ago the infantile mortality in Bethnal Green
was 153 as compared with 98.2 last year. The fall in
mortality has been coincident with and probably connected
with a fall in the birth-rate in the same period
from 35.5 to 25.4 It may be asked whether the infantile
mortality cannot be further reduced. In my
opinion this is not likely to be the case to any great
extent until the standard of living is further improved,
and there is an amelioration of housing conditions.
So far as our present Maternity and Child Welfare
Scheme is concerned, the pioneer work has been done,
and we can say with confidence that babies do not die
in numbers as they used to from the sheer ignorance
of their mothers. The diseases from which babies die
nowadays, especially prematurity, wasting, diarrhœa
and bronchitis, cannot be controlled by mere educational
work directed to the mothers. Other more
radical means are required, which I cannot discuss
here.