London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Barking 1919
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Barking]
This page requires JavaScript
32
and 17 other causes. At the time of the first visit out of 886, 848
were entirely breast fed, 19 mixed, 19 artificially fed. At about
the third month 174 were entirely breast fed, 54 mxed, and 55
artificially.
The following figures give some idea as to the reason of death other than its immediate cause. The last column gives the percentage dying in the first year.
| Total Numbers. | Numbers dying in first xear. | Percentage. | ||||
| 1914. | 1919. | 1914. | 1919. | 1914. | 1919. | |
| Attended by Doctors | 40fi« | 358 | ||||
| Attended by Midwives | :>77 | 481 | — | — | — | — |
| Mother Detective or Delicate | 32 | U | 5 | 10 | 124 | 910 |
| Opthalmia Neonatorum | 15 | 13 | 1 | — | 6 6 | — |
| Breast Fed | 815 | 848 | 66 | 49 | 81 | 5-7 |
| Artificial Feeding | .".0 | 19 | 7 | 1 | 256 | 53 |
| Mixed | 12 | 19 | 1 | 2 | 8 4 | 106 |
| Mother Employed | 25 | 7 | 0 | 2 | — | — |
| Cradle Used | 216 | 179 | 8 | 7 | 3-5 | 39 |
| Dirty Houses | 49 | 21 | 5 | 12 | 71 | 500 |
| Illegitimates | 36 | 26 | 5 | 1 | 14 9 | 40 |
The increase in the number breast-fed and the large fall in
the number dying in the first year is mainly due to a comparatively
long period of rest which the women of the
town have enjoyed during the period of the war, a fact which
is borne out by the large fall in the birth-rate. There can be no
doubt that the maintenance of the modern standards of life and
the reproduction of a child every two years is rather more than
can be borne by the average woman unless some assistance is
given in her domestic duties.