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7
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
The number of deaths of infants under 12 months was 23,
which gives an Infantile Mortality Rate of 28.5 per 1,000 live births.
This rate was practically the same as that for the previous year
which was 28.1 and only a little higher than that for 1945, 27.3
the lowest so far recorded in Wood Green. It compared favourably
with that for the country as a whole which was 34 and with that
of a group of towns of comparable size which was 39.
Of the 23 infantile deaths, 5 occurred within 24 hours of birth,
and 12 during the first month of life. Of the five deaths occurring
within 24 hours of birth, two were of premature babies, and two
of babies suffering from congenital defects. The neonatal death-rate
i.e. the rate of deaths in the first month per 1,000 births was 15 the
lowest so far recorded in Wood Green. The very special care given
to premature babies in recent years, by maternity hospitals, and local
authority midwives and health visitors is reflected to some extent
at least in this low rate, and it is in its further reduction by such
special care and also increased attention to the health of the expectant
mother that we must look for still further improvement in the
Infant Mortality Rate.
MATERNAL MORTALITY.
No deaths were reported during the year arising from conditions
associated with childbirth, so that the Maternal Mortality Rate
was nil.
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE SERVICE IN WOOD
GREEN.
With the coming into force of the National Health Service Act,
1946 on July 5th, 1948, the Maternity and Child Welfare work in
Wood Green ceased to be the responsibility of the Wood Green
Council and passed over to the care of the Middlesex County Council,
to be administered by the Local Area Health Committee for No. 2
Area of the County, of which Wood Green forms a part, along with
Southgate, Frie???n Barnet and Potters Bar. The work of the service
has however been carried on under the new regime by exactly the
same staff as under the old, and as the care of its mothers and children
—no matter what the administrative set-up may be—must still be