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85
The mortality of infants under one year attending Ilford infant
welfare centres was 26.l per 1,000, as compared with 62.6 per
1,000 in those not attending an Ilford infant welfare centre
(excluding the deaths of those children dying in the Girls' Village
Homes).
It must be remembered, in considering these figures, that
rarely is a baby brought to a welfare centre under one month of
age, whereas half the deaths occur in this period.
It would be a fairer comparison to state that of the 39 children
who died between the age of one month and one year (all of whom
might have been in attendance at a welfare centre), only 17 had
attended an infant welfare centre, or, in other words, that 56 per
cent. of the deaths of children between one month and one year
of age occurred in children who had never attended an infant
welfare centre.
Neonatal Mortality.
The death-rate of infants under 4 weeks of age is known as
the Neonatal Mortality.
There were 48 deaths of infante under 4 weeks of age during
1929, and the rate for the year was 27.4 per 1,000 births.
The following table shows the Neonatal Death-rate in Ilford
compared with that for England and Wales during the previous
ten years:—
Ilford. England and Wales.
1919 30.8 40
1920 27.0 35
1921 25.5 35
1922 27.1 34
1923 21.2 32
1924 19.5 33
1925 24.9 32
1926 21.2 32
1927 19.3 32
1928 23.6 31
Table IV gives the deaths of infants under one year of age,
classified according to age. It will be noticed that prematurity
still causes the greatest number of deaths.