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extra deaths, it is probably unnecessary to go further than has already been done to
find an explanation. It may, of course, be that the changed conditions following the
outbreak of the war also assisted. So many homes were thrown into more or less
disorder at the beginning of August, and continued in this condition for some time
afterwards, that it is not at all unlikely that some of the precautions usually taken in
respect of the babies were to some extent relaxed.
The relaxation, if it came, did so at a time when increased effort was required,
viz., during the late summer and early autumn. The babies, therefore, suffered as
the figures show; they suffered by contracting and, in some cases, succumbing from
diarrhoea and enteritis.
One thing is certain, the increase was in no sense due to a diminution in the
work done on behalf of the babies. On the contrary, there was all round, by all
the parties concerned, as is shown in the following pages, a decided increase in the
amount carried out.
The Council continued and extended its efforts to improve sanitation, and to get
and keep in touch with the mothers of young babies, and to help them in every way
possible. In this latter class of work the fullest possible assistance was obtained
from the St. Marylebone Health Society and its workers. Doubtless, these efforts,
which were responsible for bringing the rate down to 90.8 in 1913, operated in
1914 to prevent a more serious rise than that shown.
As regards the distribution and the proportion of deaths due to various causes
there is little that is new to be said.
Christ Church, being the most thickly populated area and that in which there is
most poverty, most overcrowding and most neglect of ordinary precautions, is as
usual at the head of the list with 113 deaths amongst infants. In 1913 the figure
was 110.
In connection with distribution: as to age at death and causation of death
matters have undergone very little change. The greatest number of deaths occurred
in the early weeks of life. Of the babies 66 were less than one month old when they
died and 105 less than three months. The figures for 1913 were 81 and 119.
The outstanding causes of death and the proportions traceable to them were
those usually noted.