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rate for illegitimate children has fallen to 42 per thousand, and at last we have got figures
for infantile mortality rates for legitimate and illegitimate children which differ by only five
per thousand and indicate that the chance of survival for the one is practically as good as
that for the other. This is most satisfactory, for it is not so many years since there was
considerable divergence between the two figures. In fact twenty years ago the infantile
mortality rate for the Borough as a whole was 80 per thousand, but for illegitimate children,
152, whilst in 1944, the figures were respectively 64 and 105. This year they are 37 and 42.
Neo-Natal Deaths.
The number of children who died under the age of one year was 91 out of a total of
2,447 births. In 1947, 95 children died out of a total of 2,793 births. Of the children who
died in 1947, 47 were under one month, but in 1948 the number was 65, and in fact the
neo-natal mortality rate, that is, figures relative to the deaths of children under one month,
has risen from 17 to 26 per thousand. This is a considerable increase in view of the lessened
number of births. It is essential to see if one can ascertain the cause. In this respect it will
be noted that out of 91 infantile deaths 20 were due to prematurity, whilst last year, out of 95,
15 were due to this cause; and it is a fact that prematurity is an important factor in
infantile mortality. I stress this particular condition because the death rate caused by it is one
capable of reduction by methods at present known, appreciated and adopted in parts of this
country and elsewhere. Skilled nursing and early care can do much to save the premature
child, and one wonders if the time has arrived when prematurity should "not be notified and
a scheme adopted for making available all those services which can help and save the
premature infant.
Infectious Diseases.
The notifications of infectious diseases are noteworthy in two respects; namely, infantile
paralysis (anterior poliomyelitis) and scabies. During 1947 there were notified 36 cases of
infantile paralysis, a serious disease which is liable to cause permanent crippling. For 1948,
the number of notifications was seven, and in fact we did not have a return of the epidemic
of the previous year.
Scabies, which is an infection of the skin, is dropping steadily in St. Pancras, the total
number of notifications being 138 in 1948, compared to 300 in 1947 and 699 in 1946.
Otherwise infectious disease has not shown any material variation over the previous year.
Vital statistics of the Borough indicate that the population is rising, the birth and death
rates falling, that there is a slight increase in infantile mortality, better care of the illegitimate
baby, and the absence from the borough of serious epidemic and infectious diseases.
Sanitary Circumstances of the Area.
The basic work of a health department is that performed by the sanitary inspectors in
their various spheres of activity, be it in abolishing nuisances which are injurious to health,
improving the conditions of housing, bettering the conditions under which persons work, or
improving the cleanliness or quality of the food they consume. By and large the value of
this work is seldom appreciated, for it is not by any means spectacular. Nor has any
sanitarian yet succeeded in conveying to the public its full significance. Yet it is on the
work of the public health department in this respect that the health and the comfort of a
community depend. No less than 7,136 complaints were received in the department during