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37
Infants weighed at Consultation 946
Health Lectures given 4
Unsuccessful visits (occupiers absent from home) 750
Visits re dirty conditions 23
Visits not otherwise classified 96
Ante-Natal Clinic—attendances 5
Reported to District Inspectors:—
Contraventions of Housing Acts 3
Dirty interior walls 12
Other defects 28
Visits paid by pupils who did temporary health visiting
under my supervision 547
The forecast that I ventured to make in my last Annual
Report, that some rise in the infant death-rate might be
expected as the result of the disturbed conditions through
which the country is passing, has unhappily been fulfilled.
As a result of the increased prosperity in the Borough, the
homes are better furnished, the provision of bedding is more
satisfactory, and the children are better clothed. The infant
death-rate, however, seems to be influenced more by the
subtle factors of environment which are included in the term
"good mother-craft." The marked drop in the attendances
at the Infant Consultation which occurred directly the war
broke out has continued through 1915. The number of
attendances had been steadily rising year by year as the
mothers learnt to value the opportunity of coming for advice
and having their infants weighed regularly, and medically
supervised. In 1913 the total attendances were 1,408, in
1914 only 1,196, with a very marked drop in the last five
months of the year (war began on August 4th), and in 1915
they had fallen as low as 946. It seems as if distractions of
some sort are preventing the mothers from taking the same