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
Kensington 1932
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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| Causes of death | Under 1 week. | 1—2 weeks. | 2—3 weeks. | 3—4 weeks. | Total 4 weeks | 1—3 months | 3—6 month | 6—9 month | 9—12 months. | Total infant deaths under 1 year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Common infectious diseases (Whooping cough 16) (Diphtheria 1) (Measles 6) | — | — | — | — | — | 5 | 6 | 10 | 23 | |
| 2. Digestive Diseases | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 5 | |
| 3. Pneumonia, bronchitis and other respiratory diseases | 1 | — | — | 12 | 10 | 10 | 45 | |||
| 4. Enteritis | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 10 | 27 | 13 | 6 | 57 |
| 5. Complications of birth (Atelectasis 10) (Other complications 9) | 19 | — | — | — | 19 | — | — | — | — | 19 |
| 6. Congenital malformation | 2 | 1 | — | 1 | 4 | — | — | — | 7 | |
| 7. Premature birth | 25 | 4 | 1 | 32 | 2 | 2 | 1 | — | ||
| 8. Atrophy, debility and marasmus | — | — | — | — | — | 20 | ||||
| 9. Other diseases (Cerebro Spinal Meningitis 2) (Convulsions 5) (Influenza 1) (Violence 3) (Other conditions 8) | 2 | — | 2 | 7 | 2 | — | ||||
| Totals | 4 | 4 | 27 | 232 | ||||||
| Death rate in each age period per 1,000 births | 224 | 34 | 1.7 | 29.6 | 17 | 26.6 | 139 | 11.4 | ||
| Percentage of total infant deaths occurring in each age period | 22.9 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 29.7 | 17.2 | 27.2 | 14.2 | 11.6 |
If the statistics of the borough are traced back for thirty or forty years, it will be seen that,
although the Kensington infantile mortality rate has shown in most years a gratifying decline, it
has except on very few occasions, been higher than the rate for London or for England and Wales.
Since the War, this problem has received close attention by the council and various voluntary
organisations. The results of an extensive investigation by officers of the public health department
were carefully and sympathetically considered by the council in 1922, and since that time every
effort has been made, in conjunction with voluntary associations, to provide the borough with a
complete and efficient maternity and child welfare service. Indeed, every recommendation I have
submitted to the council in favour of the development of a new branch of the service has been
adopted ; and the voluntary associations have shown the greatest enthusiasm in carrying out
efficiently that part of the council's maternity and child welfare scheme entrusted to their care.
For several years after 1922, the infant death rate fell satisfactorily, but then it began to increase
up to 1929. In the latter year, I addressed a meeting of the North Kensington Medical Society,
at which this problem was considered. The doctors expressed a desire to help the council in the
matter. They appointed a special committee to conduct an investigation into the death of every
North Kensington child under twelve months of age occurring in 1930 ; and their report appeared
as an appendix to my annual report for that year. Although their report was a valuable document