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75
61. NEONATAL MORTALITY.
Of the 59 children who died under the age of one year, no less than 28 of these
died under the age of one month—i.e., 47.5 per ccnt.
Of these 28 children, 12 were female and 16 male.
Of the 28 deaths, 14 were due to premature birth and debility and 3 were due
to congenital malformations, the remaining 11 being due to various causes.
Giving approximate figures, it may be said that the neo-natal mortality rate
for 1931—i.e., the number of children dying under the age of four weeks per
1,000 births—was 32.5 and for 1932, 25.3. The corresponding figure for the
whole of England for the year ended December, 1931, was 31.59. It will therefore
be sem that Barking has a low figure. The Barking figure is lower than that for
Creater London, which is 25.63, and lower than that for County Boroughs, which
is 33.67.
The rate as applicable to children between the ages of one and twelve months
works out at 28.05.
As I have said for the last 2 years, it is now generally believed that these neonatal
deaths can only be materially influenced by more intensive and efficient
ante-natal work, and these 28 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, 24
related to still-born children, 2 of whom belonged to other districts. In addition,
2 still-births were not notified.
In addition, 7 still-births occurred in Hospitals outside the Borough. It will
therefore be seen there were 31 still-births belonging to the district.
The Registrar-General expresses this figure as a ratio between the number of
still-births per 1,000 total births. In this way we get a rate of 27.3 for 1932. This
is a very low figure compared with the figure of 41 for all England and Wales.