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158
Notification of Births Act, 1915.
This Act required all births to be notified to the Medical
Officer of Health within 36 hours of their occurrence. The whole
system of health visiting rests on this Act.

As the total number of births and still births registered during
1931 was 3,722 (Live 3,601, Still 121), 348 births and 20 still births
were not notified in accordance with the provisions of the Act. This
is considerably more than in 1930. The relevant section of the
Act lays down that it is the duty of the father of the child and of
any person in attendance upon the mother at the time of, or within
thirty-six hours after the birth, to give notice in writing of the
birth to the Medical Officer of Health of the district in which the
child is born and any person who fails to give notice of a birth in
accordance with the Act shall be liable to a penalty.
Maternal Mortality.
There were 23 deaths associated directly with pregnancy, as
compared with 7 in 1930. The maternal mortality rate was consequently
6.2 per 1,000 births, compared with 2.0 per 1,000 in
1930. In other words, as there were 121 still births, one mother
died for every 156 living babies born.
The deaths directly associated with pregnancy were caused by:
Puerperal Septicaemia, 9 cases; Pulmonary Embolism, 1 case;
Post-partum Haemorrhage, 2 cases; Abortion and Haemorrhage, 1
case; Eclampsia, 3 cases; Hyperemesis Gravidarum, 2 cases;
Ectopic Gestation, 3 cases; Placenta Praevia, 1 case and Cardiac
Thrombosis, 1 case.
In the Table below only deaths directly due to pregnancy are
included.