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23
The visits were made from one week to two months after birth.
It is satisfactory to find that 83 per cent of babies are breast-fed
for at least one month. The figures in the second table shew how
much greater is the mortality among hand-fed children even in a
year when diarrhœa was at a minimum. In a hot year the difference
would be much greater.
The great reduction of infant mortality in Woolwich Parish is
striking testimony to the value of health-visiting, when supplemented
by an Infants' Milk Depot.
23a. Still-births. 97 still-born children were buried in the
Woolwich and Plumstead Cemeteries.
24. Deaths under five years and over eighty-five. The total
deaths under five years were 579 or 41.9 per thousand population
under five at the census. The rates in the three preceding years
were 47.2, 36.5, and 38.3. 35 deaths occurred over 85 compared
with 26, 36, and 38 in the three preceding years.
25. Zymotic Death-rate. The number of deaths from the
seven principal zymotic diseases was 174, giving a death-rate of
1.34, compared with 2.2, 1.0, and 1.49 in the three preceding years.