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THE HEALTH OF BARKING
It is interesting to speculate on the factors which lead to a high birth rate. Social
economists have written extensively on this subject, but there can be no doubt that
in addition to the factors which have been discussed by these able economists,
fashion has something to do with the birth rate and, although the upward trend in
the number of babies being born is likely to be temporary, it may not be quite so
temporary as some of us have been inclined to think.
In this connection, it is interesting to record that during the year 1946, the
number of live births was 1,591, showing the large increase of 447 or 28.1% over the
previous year.
This large number of births has placed a heavy burden on your midwives,
nurses and doctors and I would refer you to the remark of the Chief Medical Officer
of the Ministry of Health quoted below.
In 1945 there were 33 still births in 1,144 total births, whilst in 1946 there were
46 still births in 1,637 total births. This gives a rate of 28.0 still births per 1,000
total births in 1945 and 28.1 in 1946. For comparison the combined England
and Wales figure was 28.0 for each year. The problem of still births is bound up
with the problem of premature births which I discuss later.
Maternal Mortality.
The maternal mortality rate for 1946 is 1.8 deaths per thousand total births.
The previous year this figure was 3.3 and in 1944 it was as low as 0.7. Such
fluctuations are inevitable when dealing with statistically small numbers. The
general rate for England and Wales for 1946 was 1.43 and in 1945 it was 1.8 per
thousand total births. Commenting on this latter figure, the Chief Medical
Officer of the Ministry of Health remarks that the figure is "most creditable to the
maternity services especially when the high pressure on available beds, shortage of
staff and difficult conditions generally are considered."
Deaths.
During the year 601 Barking residents died. Heart disease and cancer were the
commonest causes (see Appendix A—Table I).
Infant Mortality. There is a section of these deaths which is always of great
interest—that is the deaths of children under one year of age. In 1946, 52 infants
died, giving an Infantile Mortality Rate of 32.79 deaths per 1,000 live births. The
general rate for England and Wales for 1946 was 43.
No figure is of more interest to me than this rate, because it forms perhaps the
most sensitive index we have of the social and sanitary condition of an area.
Gibbon, the great historian, in his Autobiography, wrote," The death of a new born
child before that of its parents may seem an unnatural but it is strictly a probable
went; since of any given number the greater part are extinguished before the ninth
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