View report page

27
eleven months of the first year of life, shows that our
chief problem at the present time is still the mortality
among the newly born.
Out of the nineteen babies who died under the age of
one month, no less than sixteen died within the first
week.
I am glad to say there has been a significant drop from
thirty to nineteen babies who died within the first
month of life. This is a step in the right direction.
In my last Report I gave some details regarding the
causes of death in the neo-natal period, and these remain
the same for the present Report. It was suggested that
routine post mortem examinations on such cases might
lead to some significant discovery which would enable
the number of such deaths to be reduced, but this
service has not been in operation, as I have stated
elsewhere.
Your attention is drawn to the new low infant
mortality rate of 39.5. This is the lowest figure yet
reported to you, and it must be some satisfaction that
the co-operation of the services you have made available,
together with the attention and the following-up
methods employed by the health visitors, have done
much to produce this result.
The number of deaths from respiratory diseases,
I am still pleased to say, has shown a slight decline.