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MATERNAL MORTALITY.
There were 2 deaths associated with childbirth during 1937, the
Maternal Mortality Rate being 2.83 per thousand total births, as
compared with 3.11 in England and Wales. Both rates have fallen
this year, the corresponding figures for 1936 being 2.99 locally and 3.81
nationally.
Of the 2 deaths which occurred locally, one was attributed to
puerperal sepsis, and the other to an unfortunate sequel to Caesarian
section. In both cases the confinements, for which private arrangements
had been made, occurred outside the District.
While considerable attention has been focussed on the risks of
childbirth, and constant attention is being given locally and nationally
to the reduction of these risks, it should again be emphasized that undue
alarm on the part of expectant mothers is undesirable and increasingly
unjustifiable. The attendant risks are much less than they were and
are decreasing annually. By reasonable forethought and acceptance
of the medical services which are available to all, irrespective of social
position or financial resources, childbirth should resume its place as
the natural phase in life which it fundamentally is.
INFANT MORTALITY.
The number of deaths occurring in children under one year of age
was 24, as compared with 20 last year, and 19, 14 and 10 in the preceding
three years, all except 1 being in legitimate children.
The Infantile Mortality Rate was thus 35 as compared with 33,
32, 26 and 30 in the last four years. As previously pointed out, this
Rate is liable to marked fluctuations owing to the small numbers concerned.
Even five-yearly grouping does not abolish this, as the average
figures for the four quinquennial periods 1915-34 demonstrate, viz.,
44, 28, 38 and 32. During the last five years, however, it has steadied
at about 31.
The Infantile Mortality Rate for England and Wales was 58 in
1937, and 59, 57, 59 and 64 in the four preceding years, the figure for
1935 being the lowest on record. The averages for 1915-24 and 1924-35
were approximately 83 and 67.
The causes of death in the 24 infants under one year of age who
died in 1937 is shown in the following Table
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