London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Barking 1907
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Barking]
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I have been compelled through lack of funds to stop the
distribution of milk at the Public Offices, and with it the
ystematic weighing and inspection of infants has greatly
diminished, but I am hoping to begin again shortly and encourage
mothers to bring their children to be weighed, and so to be quite
sure of the proper assimilation of their food.
The question of infantile mortality is admittedly a very
complex one, and it will probably necessitate years of patient
i nvestigation and labour to permanently reduce it in a population
such as we have to deal with at Barking.
The following are the principal causes of infantile death during 1906-07:—
| 1907. | 1906. | |
|---|---|---|
| Diarrhoeal Diseases | 11 | 41 |
| Wasting Diseases— | ||
| Premature Birth | 19 | 12 |
| Congential Defects | 7 | 3 |
| Atrophy, Debility, Marasmus | 18 | 21 |
| Tuberculous Diseases | 8 | 7 |
| Convulsions | 7 | 16 |
| Bronchitis and Pneumonia | 14 | 7 |
| Overlying | 2 | 6 |
| 86 | 113 |
The average infantile mortality rate for the past 10 years
was 162 per 1,000 births registered, and the rate for the year 1907
was 112. This low rate I believe to be almost entirely due to the
cool summer which brought with it a low mortality from epidemic
diarrhoea. The number of deaths from this disease in 1906 being
56, and for 1907, 15.