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61
diarrhoea during 1927, should have been larger in number in view
of the readings of the 4 ft. earth thermometer. There were other
counteracting influences at work, and it is reasonable and fair to
attribute the decrease in diarrhœal mortality (and corresponding
morbidity) to the Council's activities in maternity and child welfare
work throughout the Borough, having regard to the recognised
fact that the chief causes of an increased diarrhoeal rate are to be
found in the improper and irregular feeding of infants and young
children.
12 corrected deaths (5 infants under 1 year of age) were registered
from enteritis.
Practical measures were taken to prevent epidemic diarrhoea
(and other diseases) in infants and young children, and to promote
hygienic conditions in their feeding and environment, as follows:—
(a) Visiting of houses wherein births were notified under the
Notification of Births Act, 1907, or wherein deaths of
infants and children were registered as having occurred
from epidemic diarrhoea or other diseases of a similar nature.
(b) Teaching of proper feeding and care and management of
infants at the Infants Consultations Centre connected with
the Municipal Milk Depot, and at the Voluntary Consultations
Welfare Centres (14 in number), which are comprised
within the Lambeth Maternity and Child Welfare
Scheme, by the Medical Officers and Staffs attached thereto.
(c) Feeding of necessitous infants and young children through
the Municipal Milk Depot, and through the 14 Voluntary
Welfare Centres, in connection with the Council's Milk
Assistance Scheme, which has been approved by the
Ministry of Health, under the Maternity and Child Welfare
Act. 1918.