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76
School Sore Throats 22
(b) For Ringworm. Positive. Negative.
Total Examinations 9 2 7
(c) For Tubercle. Positive. Negative.
Total Examinations 274 35 139
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Infantile Mortality.
60 deaths occurred in infants under 1 year, corresponding
to an infantile mortality of 6S per 1,000 births.
The infantile mortality is 8 per 1,000 births higher than
that of 1935; for the third year in succession we have to deplore
an increased infantile mortality, and it is the highest recorded since
1929. We had become so accustomed to record a diminishing
infantile mortality year after year that it is with a sense of disappoint
ment and dissatisfaction that a higher rate for the third successive
year is recorded. There is one phase in this year's infantile
mortality which is disquieting. Not only is there a higher mortality,
but this enhanced mortality has occurred between the ages of 9
and 12 months, and these are the ages which are most susceptible
to the widespread benefits of child welfare.
We have for years to deplore the high neo-natal mortality,
that is, of deaths in the first four weeks of life. The percentage
of infant mortality occurring in the first week of life steadily increases
everywhere, not because neo-natal deaths have increased
but because deaths in the remaining 51 weeks of the first year have
declined rapidly. It is found that though the infantile mortality
may vary in different localities the neo-natal rate remains fairly
constant in all sections of the population. Some of the causes of
neo-natal deaths are known and theoretically preventable. One
of these is difficult delivery- with consequent damage to the infant.
There were 3 deaths from intracranial haemorrhage, and 1 from
injury at birth, but these 4 occurred in maternity hospitals where,
presumably, the actual delivery took place under the best possible
conditions, and where the best skill was available.
The two deaths from Mongolism and Spina Bifida were due
to developmental faults, and also the death from congenital heart
disease, though probably the latter was neither congenital nor