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102
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
"It has been impossible to secure the services of any helper
since the war broke out, so that the total number of visits paid is
less than in the previous year.
"There has also been a considerable falling off in the number of
second visits.
"The total number of visits paid, including re-visits and
ineffectual visits was 5,606. The number of first visits totalled
3,337. there were 1,373 second visits and the number of ineffectual
visits was 896.
"149 visits were paid to the homes to see to the carrying-out
of repairs, etc., for which we had served notices.
"The largest number of ineffectual visits occurred on our second
visits to the mothers, as many had removed and could not be traced.
"Whenever successful in finding their new address, we have
visited the mother in her new home in order to see that the sanitary
conditions were satisfactory.
"The total number of visits paid after notification and registration
of births will be found in Table LIII. which also shows the
method of feeding at the time of the first visit and the number of
ineffectual calls.
"Among the infants we visited, 120 died, their ages at death
are given in Table LV.
"51 of these occurred from Diarrhoea and Enteritis, 16 from
Bronchitis or Pneumonia, and four from Whooping Cough, eight
from Congenital Debility, six from Marasmus, five from Prematurity,
two from Asphyxia, and two from Tuberculous Meningitis.
"Many infants died from Prematurity previous to our visits,
95 of those visited were born prematurely and 68 children were
delicate from birth.