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22
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Notification of Births.
1,998 notifications of five births were received during the year;
the majority of these were notified by midwives.
Stillbirths.
34 male and 18 female stillbirths were notified, the corresponding
figures for registration being 30 and 16. The rate per 1,000 of totd
population registered was 0.50, the rate for England and Wales also being
0.50. The percentage of illegitimate stillbirths to the total was 4.35
compared with a percentage of illegitimate to total births of 4.65.
Infant Mortality.
80 infants under one year of age died during the year, giving an
infant mortality rate of 39.16 per 1,000 live births, compared with that
of 46 for England and Wales and 61 for London. The rate amongst
legitimate children was 39.53 while for illegitimate children it was
31.58.
Ophthalmia Neonatorum.
Two cases of this disease were notified, both of which were treated
in hospital; both made complete recoveries.
There were 18 cases in which a medical aid notice was sent by a
midwife to a medical practitioner on account of some eye condition
occurring in a newly-born infant. All these cases were visited by the
Medical Officer of Health and a Health Visitor. Of the total cases
investigated, only two were notified as suffering from true Ophthalmia
Neonatorum.
Maternal Mortality.
Two maternal deaths were assigned to this district, which give
a maternal mortality rate of 0.96 per thousand births. This is a
remarkably low figure; that for England and Wales for the corresponding
period was 1.93 which also is low.