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39
or about which time infantile mortality preventive work was seriously undertaken.
In the report for 1919 commenting upon the rate (98.5) registered in that year it
was described as "more or less of a return to the pre-war level, and though it is
always unsafe to prophesy with regard to the behaviour of death rates, it is not
too much to say that it is unlikely there will be further occasion for declaring a
rate anything like so high as that for 1917."
The progress that has taken place since then and the fact that in 1925 not
only was the rate (63), but also the number of deaths, actually the lowest on
record would appear to suggest that it might not be unsafe to repeat the prophecy.
The course which the rate has taken is graphically shown in the chart on
page 41, which indicates clearly that the only really serious interruption to the
decline was in 1917.
The means adopted in the Borough with a view to bringing about a reduction
and generally improving the life and health chances of infants and children are
described in a separate section of the report—Maternity and Child Welfare. This
part being merely statistical, it is not proposed at this point to do more than give
some sort of analysis of the figures relating to deaths amongst infants.
Causes.— A Table (Ministry of Health, Table I) will be found on page 40,
in which, in addition to the causes of health, are shown the distribution of the
deaths according to age and locality.
So far as age and causation are concerned, conditions vary little year by year.
In 1925, as in other years, the greatest number of deaths occurred in the early
weeks of life. Of the babies, 31 were less than one month old when they died and
45 less than three months. The figures for 1924 were 47 and 69, for 1919, 60 and
90, respectively.
The outstanding causes of death and the proportions traceable to them were
those usually noted. Prematurity (numbers 12, 13 and 14 in the table), which as
usual heads the list, caused 43 in 1924 and 27 in 1925. Diarrhoea and enteritis
(7 and 8) accounted for 18 in 1924 and for 22 in 1925. Respiratory diseases, the
third of the main causes, took 31 in 1924 and in 1925, 18.
Amongst the other causes of death, those which call for mention are the
commoner infectious diseases, which together led to 1 death among infants the
particular disease being diphtheria. Two deaths were stated to be due to overlaying,
3 to convulsions, 1 to meningitis, and 8 to whooping cough.
In the following table information supplementary to that in the large table is
given with regard to deaths in the various sub-districts.