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14
Statistics prove that the deaths of "welfare" babies
are less than the deaths of "non-welfare" babies. This
may be because the negligent mother who "does not
hold with welfares" also "does not hold with the principles
of sound mothercraft.
The fall in the Infantile Mortality Rate in Bromley
during recent years is a remarkable one. It has fallen
from an average rate of 120 in 1896-1900 to 44 for the
years 1926-1930. Some of the credit for this must be
granted to the Public Health Service in Bromley. And
yet everything is not all as it should be. A close study
of the statistics shows that there has not been a corresponding
improvement in the death rate of the new born under
one week of age, and during the past jive years there has
been an annual increase in the rate of baby deaths during
the period 1-4 weeks, which appears to be due to deaths
from Respiratory Disease.
There is a further interesting fact in the figures for
Bromley; the deaths from Respiratory Disease corresponds
not with the Respiratory Disease Rate in adults, but with
the Influenza Rate in adults. It would therefore follow
that the cause of death in infants is primarily Influenza
and not primarily Respiratory Disease.
Of the baby deaths during the past five years, 19261930,
21 per cent. were due to Respiratory Diseases, 19
per cent. to Premature Births, 17 per cent. to Debility
at birth, 11 per cent. to Gastritis and Enteritis and only
3 per cent. to Infectious Diseases. 28 per cent. were
due to other causes. From these figures it would appear
that no less than 36 per cent. of deaths of babies are due
to some ante-natal or natal condition in the mother.
This shows that there is an actual
rise in the proportion of deaths at the age " under one week.