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58
Infant Mortality.
Neo-natal deaths: there were 57 deaths of infants under one
month of age, giving a neo-natal mortality rate of 26.6 and constituting
42.8 per cent, of the total infant mortality rate. Of these
deaths, 19 occurred within 24 hours of birth. In 9'of these the birth
was premature, in 3 the infant was small and feeble, even though
full time ; in 3 cases death was due to congenital abnormalities
and 4 deaths were due to cerebral haemorrhage or other injuries
received during a difficult labour. Of the other 25 children who
died within the week, 16 were premature infants, 2 were feeble, 3
suffered from congenital abnormalities and 3 suffered from birth
injuries. Of the remaining 13 who lived over one week but under
one month, 6 were premature and 3 suffered from debility. Of
these premature infants dying within one week, 6 were due to
twin deliveries, in which labour set in at six months in the case of
two and at seven months in the case of the other. 2 more were
due to twin birth in which the other infant was stillborn. In most
cases the reason for the premature onset of labour could not be
determined. Of those dying in the early days from debility, the
infants were full time, but in a number of cases were of very poor
development. In two of these cases, the cause of death should
more properly be ascribed to difficult labour. Those who died
from injury incurred in labour were all full time, and operative
measures had been necessary. In one instance the mother suffered
from ante-partum haemorrhage, but in the others it seems that
ante-natal supervision of the mother might have saved the infant.
In the second and third months, environmental conditions
played more part. Of the 19 lost at these ages, 9 died from some
chest condition, 4 from marasmus and 3 from enteritis. In many
of these infants the chances of survival had all along been small,
and the ascribed cause of death was more a mode of death than the
actual cause.
In the third to sixth months, 19 infants died. Developmental
abnormalities accounted for 2 and debility for 3. Chest conditions
accounted for 8, gastro-enteritis 3 and whooping cough 2.
Of children dying in the second six months of life, the cause
in most cases was bronchitis or pneumonia, these chest conditions
accounting for 17 out of the 30 deaths. In a large number of
instances, a history of preceding influenza in a member of the faniu)
was obtained, especially in the latter weeks of the year. In some
cases the onset in the child appeared as a "cold" or "teething
bronchitis." In very few and even then only in those nearly 12
months old, did the chest condition appear to be primary. Pneumonia
is essentially a disease where skilled nursing is required an
hospital accommodation sufficient to admit all these cases withou