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32
1914]
INFANT MORTALITY.
Infant Deaths, 849 ; Mortality Rate, 104.—Altogether 849 deaths of
infants under one year old were registered during the year, which represented
an infant mortality of 104 per 1,000 infants born. This rate is 7 per 1,000
below the annual record of the preceding 10 years, and is 3 per 1,000 below the
rate which obtained in 1913. but is far above that of 1912, when it was only
86 per 1,000 births.
The mortality in the several districts varied from 86 per 1,000 births in
Upper Holloway to 134 in Lower Holloway, which is explained in part by the
difference in the class of persons in residence.
A series of Tables dealing with infant mortality follow at the end of
this section of the Report, and each one is worthy of the closest study, particularly
those showing the result of the enquiry into the feeding of the infants
under twelve months who died from diarrhoeal diseases. There it will be found
that an undue proportion of them had never been fed at their mother's breast;
indeed, during the last six years out of 78 of these children under three months
old, only 15, or 19.2 per cent., were properly fed, and out of 212 children under
six months old, only 13.7 per cent. were so fed. These figures show that mothers
are not alive to the necessity of feeding their children as nature intended, and
it is for this reason, as well as others that have already been mentioned in
previous reports, that Health Visitors are so much required. The appalling
ignorance of mothers respecting the bringing up of their children has been
fully recognised throughout the length and breadth of this land, and everywhere
prodigious efforts have been, and are being, made to prevent the terrible waste
of infant life that is occurring in our midst. The Borough Council of Islington
has adopted a negative policy in this matter; but why, no one who understands
the subject can explain. It is certain, however, that they are not doing the
right thing in ignoring the preventable mortality occurring among the infants
in our midst.
There is no occasion to dwell further on this matter; several reports have
been made on the subject, and every year special attention has been drawn to
it, but nothing has been done; and Islington, it is much to be regretted, stands
alone among the great communities, and, indeed, almost alone among the lesser,
as doing nothing to prevent this wastage of life. Happily, however, during the
last eighteen months a School for Mothers has been voluntarily instituted in
North Islington at 9 Manor Gardens, which, it is most heartening to know, is
doing really good solid work, and where the mothers of North Islington are
availing themselves of the teaching and instruction which the institution affords.
It is also pleasing to the Medical Officer of Health, who takes such an interest