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61. NEO-NATAL MORTALITY.
Of the 61 children who died under the age of one year, no less than 31 of these
died under the age of one month—i.e., 50.8 per cent.
Of these 31 children, 14 were female and 17 male.
Of the 31 deaths, 20 were due to premature birth and debility and 4 were due
to congenital malformations, the remaining 7 being due to various causes.
Giving approximate figures, it may be said that the neo-natal mortality rate
for 1930—i.e., the number of children dying under the age of four weeks per
1,000 births—was 30 and for 1931, 32.5. The corresponding figure for the
whole of England for the five years ending December, 1930, was 31.8. It will
therefore be seen that Barking has an average figure. The Barking figure is
higher than the average for London, which is 25, and lower than that for County
Boroughs, which is nearly 34.
As I said last year, it is now generally believed that these neo-natal deaths can
only be materially influenced by more intensive and efficient ante-natal work,
and these 31 deaths show you that you have realms to conquer in this direction.
62. STILL-BIRTHS.
Of the total notifications received under the Notification of Births Act, 23
related to still-born children. In addition, 5 still-births were not notified, making
a total of 28.
The Registrar-General expresses this figure as a ratio between the number
of still-births and the number of live births, per 1,000 live births. In this way we
get a rate of 26.5 for 1931. This is a very low figure compared with the figure of
41 for all England and Wales.
Investigation of the health visitors elicited the following information .—
(a) Duration of pregnancy :—
Less than seven months 2
More than seven months 21
Not elicited 5