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63
V.—MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
The principal rates upon which any estimate of the value of maternity and
child welfare work is based are the infantile mortality rate and the maternal mortality
rate. The infantile mortality rate for 1933 showed a decrease on the rate for 1932
and the maternal mortality for 1933 showed an increase on that for 1932. For the
year under review (1934) these tendencies have been reversed, the infantile mortality
rate increased from 74 to 84 per 1,000 births and the maternal mortality rate
decreased from 4.02 to 0.69 per 1,000 births. Certain aspects of these features were
discussed on pages 20 and 21.
The increase in the infantile mortality rate was to a certain extent due to an
increase in the number of deaths from diarrhoea and enteritis under one year. As
has been shown on page 42 this increase was to a large extent due to the comparative
prevalence of true enteritis which was observed more or less throughout the year.
The remarkable decrease in the maternal mortality rate is worthy of note.
This decrease to a figure of 0.69 is probably associated with the preventive work
which has been carried on in the Borough for some years. It is, nevertheless,
hardly to be expected that the rate will continue at this extremely low level.
STATISTICS.
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
The number of children under one year of age who died in 1934 was 122, of which
61 were males and 61 females, as compared with 110 (males 66, females 44) for 1933.
The infant mortality rate was 84 as compared with 74 for the previous year, and
an average of 75 for the previous five years. The rate for England and Wales was
59, or 30 per cent., and for London 67, or 20 per cent. lower than the rate for
Shoreditch.
Causes of Death.
The causes of death of the 122 infants who died during 1934 are set out in the
table opposite page 20. As has been mentioned previously, the outstanding causes
were diarrhcea and enteritis, pneumonia, prematurity and congenital malformations,
which claimed 28, 27, 26 and 12 deaths of infants respectively. Measles claimed
5 deaths and whooping cough 2. The other causes of death were relatively unimportant.
The figures for 1933 for diarrhoea and enteritis, pneumonia, prematurity
and congenital malformations were 21, 21, 20 and 6 respectively. There has,
therefore, been an increase in the deaths from these diseases. The figures for measles
and whooping cough for 1933 were 1 and 6 respectively.
It is scarcely to be hoped that any improvement can be effected in respect of
the deaths from congenital malformations. These conditions are due to causes