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23
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Notification of Births.
2,338 notifications of live births were received during the year;
the majority of these were notified by midwives.
Stillbirths.
35 male and 26 female stillbirths were notified, the corresponding
figures for registration being 36 and 27. The rate per 1,000 of total
population registered was 0.59, the rate for England and Wales being
0.53. The percentage of illegitimate stillbirths to the total was 6.35
compared with a percentage of illegitimate to total births of 5.08.
Infant Mortality.
74 infants under one year of age died during the year, giving an
infant mortality rate of 31.09 per 1,000 live births, compared with that
of 43 for England and Wales and 41 for London. The rate amongst
legitimate children was 30.10 while for illegitimate children it was
49.59.
Ophthalmia Neonatorum.
11 cases of this disease were notified, two of which were treated
in hospital; all made complete recoveries.
There were 38 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 investigated by
the Medical Officer of Health and all were visited by a Health Visitor.
Maternal Mortality.
Two maternal deaths were assigned to this district, which give a
maternal mortality rate of 0.82 per thousand births. This is a
remarkably low figure ; that for England and Wales for the corresponding
period was 1.43 which also is low.