View report page

47
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
Although the figures on which the above Table is based are
small, yet they correspond pretty closely with the figures of the
Registrar General for the whole of England and Wales for the
year 1906. In his report for that year he says:-"A cursory
examination of these Tables suffices to prove that the waste of
life among illegitimate children is enormous, the mortality under
one year of age in England and Wales being 261 per 1,000 illegitimate
births, against 127 per 1,000 among children born in
wedlock; we find that within a year of birth illegitimate infants
experience a death-rate which is higher by 106 per cent. than that
of legitimate infants."
In this Borough for the year 1907, this percentage was even
higher, and this is attributed to the fact that many nurse children
are sent to this Borough from other parts of London.
The Table which follows shows the infantile mortality rate
per 1,000 births for the whole Borough, and for each sub-district,
from certain causes and from all causes.
In this Table also the corrected number of births is used for
the rates, the births occurring in the Workhouse being allocated
to their respective sub-districts, and the births belonging to other
places subtracted.
In Clapham this mortality was very low from all causes, more
especially from diseases of the Respiratory Organs, where the rate
per 1,000 was only 13.91, compared with 22.76 for the whole
Borough.
From Premature birth the rate was highest in Tooting and
lowest in Wandsworth, from Measles and Whooping Cough
highest in Putney and lowest in Wandsworth, from Respiratory
diseases highest in Wandsworth and lowest in Clapham, from
Tuberculous diseases highest in Tooting and lowest in Streatham,
and from other causes highest in Putney and lowest in Tooting.
From all causes the infantile mortality was lowest in Streatham
and highest in Tooting, and, compared with 1906, the rate
was lower in all the sub-districts with the exception of 1 ooting
where this rate was the same.