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31
PART II.—SPECIAL SUBJECTS.
PREVENTION OF INFANT MORTALITY.
The annual statistics in regard to deaths of infants under one year of age
are given on pages 21 to 25 of this Report.
The subject was brought into prominence during the year by a Circular
and Memorandum on Maternity and Child Welfare, which the Local
Government Board sent out in July. These are of great importance and are
therefore set out in full below:—
Circular
County Councils
and
Sanitary Authorities.
Local Government Board,
Whitehall, S.W.
30th July, 1914.
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Sir,
I am directed by the Local Government Board to state that an estimate has been
laid before Parliament for a grant to be distributed by the Board in aid of the expenditure
of local authorities and voluntary agencies in respect of institutions or other provision
for maternity and child welfare.
This grant, if voted by Parliament, will be made in aid of expenditure in respect of
clinics, dispensaries or other institutions primarily concerned with the provision of
medical and surgical advice and treatment, as well as in respect of the salaries of health
visitors and other officers engaged for this work.
The Local Government Board have in recent years devoted considerable attention to
questions connected with infant welfare and they have observed with much satisfaction
that efforts have been made by many local authorities and voluntary agencies, to deal
with the matter. These efforts have undoubtedly helped to secure improved conditions
for children and hare played an important part in the campaign for the reduction of
infantile mortality.
It is evident from the Reports issued by the Medical Department of the Board and
those of many Medical Officers of Health that more extended and systematic measures
than have hitherto been generally adopted are necessary, and it is hoped that the grant
of assistance from the Exchequer will stimulate those local authorities who have not yet
taken action to give the matter their earnest consideration and will encourage those
already engaged in work to develop it still further.
Up to the present local authorities, in their infant welfare work, have concerned themselves
more especially with the child in its first year of life; the matter is, however, one
which needs to be dealt with on a more comprehensive basis and it is clearly desirable
that there should be continuity in dealing with the whole period from before birth until
the time when the child is entered upon a school register, i.e., the register of a public
elementary school, nursery school, creche, day nursery, school for mothers, or other
school.
Extension of the existing work is accordingly needed in two directions: on the one
hand it is necessary that measures should be taken for securing improved ante-natal and
natal conditions, and on the other, provision should be made for continuing the work in
relation to children beyond the first year of life.