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14
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
There were 36 deaths of infants under one year of age, as
against 700 births; the proportion which the deaths under one
year bear to 1,000 births is therefore 51.4 as compared with 60'6
for the previous year.
M. F.
Deaths under 1 year: Legitimate 21 15
Illegitimate - -
The chief cause of mortality among infants in 1935, as
appearing in Table II was, as usual, prematurity with 14 deaths
as compared with 12 deaths for the previous year.
The next largest cause of death was pneumonia with 9 deaths
as compared with 3 for the previous year.
There was only 1 death attributed to infectious disease,
(Cerebro-spinal meningitis)
It will be noted that during 1935 the deaths during the first
four weeks of life amounted to 20, a percentage of 55.5 of the total
Infantile Mortality during the first year of life, also that 17 of these
infant deaths occurred during the first week of life.
The reason for the high rate of mortality during the first
month of life is that the children who receive injuries at birth
and those suffering from developmental and wasting diseases die
soon after birth.
During the past 30 years the Infant Mortality rate has fallen
some 50%, but this fall has occurred mainly subsequent to the
first few weeks of life, the death rate during the first four weeks
remaining much the same.
When every mother, and especially a first mother, attends an
ante-natal clinic, or is otherwise kept under medical supervision
during her pregnancy, then there should result a diminution in the
number of deaths of babies at this early age.