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532
It will be noted that during 1924 the deaths during the first
month of life amounted to 47 per cent. of the total infant mortality
during the first year of life, in Stoke Newington.
These excellent public health results have been obtained at
a very low cost to the community; for, when the Government
grant is credited against our local expenses, the net cost of the whole
of the work to the ratepayers of Stoke Newington is less than the
sum represented by a penny rate.
The maternal mortality rate for the country as a whole is
equivalent to about four maternal deaths to every thousand births,
and this figure has been fairly constant for more than twenty years,
the slight reduction in deaths from Puerperal Fever having been
rather more than compensated for by the many deaths from other
causes in connection with childbirth. It must be borne in mind that
these deaths indicate an immense burden of suffering and ill-health
among women who survive, and they are necessarily associated with
a large number of infant deaths before, during, or shortly after birth,
a number of which could be prevented.
On the other hand, during the past 20 years the infant mortality
rate has fallen some 50 per cent., but this fall has occurred almost
entirely subsequent to the first few weeks of life, the still-birth rate
and the death rate during the first month remaining much as they
were 20 years ago.
The above two facts are, of course, intimately related from the
standpoint of their causes and prevention; and it is the aim
of those responsible for maternity and child welfare services to
devise fuller measures for preventing this sacrifice of life and health.
More ante-natal care and supervision, embracing the provision of
more Maternity Hospitals and Homes, and special educational
measures, can alone provide the remedy.