View report page

the present state of knowledge, very little effective control. Whilst
environmental conditions have a profound influence on deaths from
the various infections which are responsible for the majority of
deaths occurring in infants over the age of one week and under that
of one year, and which in the main are, at any rate theoretically,
preventable.
It will be noticed:
(1) That so far as Neo-natal deaths are concerned, the
highest rates occur in the wards where the
residential conditions are best.
(2) That the highest rates for infections—the more
definitely pieventable class of deaths—occurs in
the wards where the residential conditions are
least satisfactory.
Although an average Infantile Mortality Rate of 33 per 1,000
for the whole Borough over a period of eight years represents a very
low figure, it can not be considered either satisfactory or irreducible
so long as the loss of infant life in children over the age of one week
remains as high as it is at present in the more densely populated
parts of the Borough.
To anyone who has an intimate knowledge of the social and
environmental conditions in the different parts of the Borough,
this Table will indicate the importance of and the need for a really
adequate standard of housing accommodation and amenities.
MATERNAL MORTALITY.
It is well known that whilst many other fatality rates have
declined during recent years, the maternal mortality rate for
England and Wales has shown but little alteration, remaining in
the neighbourhood of 4.0 per 1,000 births.
Two maternal deaths occurred in 1937, the causes being:—
A. I. (a) Myocardial degeneration.
(b) Rheumatic Fever.
II. Caesarean Section.
B.Toxaemia of Paralyticileus following Csesarean
Section.
12