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24
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
There is little need to allude to the splendid work
constantly being done by your Lady Sanitary Inspectors—
if the Council does not know and appreciate it very many
others do—and it is a fact that seldom does a day pass by
without some request being received by the Department that
their help and advice would be welcomed by some person or
other. Praises as to their work are just as frequently being
received. Assisted by the earnest and kindly voluntary
workers of the St. Marylebone Health Society, there is no
doubt that they save many infant lives annually. The lessons
they impress upon parents and others as to cleanliness, the
proper storage of milk and other foods, the correct method of
feeding and managing infants, the prevention of blindness and
so forth, will, I feel confident, leave a permanent mark on the
health of this Borough.
Two leaflets, which are explained by your Lady Sanitary
Inspectors and the workers of the St. Marylebone Health
Society, and left at homes where they will be appreciated, have
been issued or reissued during the year 1908; and as requests
for copies of them are so numerous as to shew clearly that they
are valued by others engaged in similar work, I reproduce
them.
Assistance was most kindly given in the preparation of
that on Infantile Diarrhoea by Miss Christine Murrell, M.D.,
and Dr. Eric Pritchard, whilst the one dealing with Ophthalmia
was most kindly revised by the staff of the Western Ophthalmic
Hospital and by Dr. Sydney Stephenson, whose help I desire to
acknowledge most fully and most gratefully.
SUMMER DIARRHCEA.
Diarrhoea is one of the most fatal diseases of young
children.
It may be prevented by taking particular care of the child,
and the cleanliness of its food and surroundings.
(1). During the hot weather cow's milk should be boiled
before being used, and if kept should be covered with a clean
damp cloth to prevent dust getting into it.
(2). Infants should not be weaned during the hot months
of the year.
(3). If babies have to be fed by hand, follow directions
given in leaflet on "Infant Feeding," copy of this can be had on
application as below. Breast-fed babies hardly ever suffer from
Diarrhoea.