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Details of the causes of the deaths of infants and of young
children are given in Table XXVIII. This table brings out the
fact that, of the 259 deaths under one year, no fewer than 154,
or 59.5 per cent., were due to three causes. These three causes—
diarrhoea and enteritis, pneumonia, and prematurity—are a potent
cause of death at the beginning of life. Prematurity caused 59
deaths, pneumonia 51, and enteritis 44. The mortality in the two
zymotic groups was relatively much greater in male than in female
infants, but in the case of prematurity there was no difference in
mortality between the sexes. With reference to age, the greatest
number of deaths from pneumonia occurred between 1 and 3
months and between 6 and 12 months. The mortality under one
month was low. The mortality from enteritis was most noticeable
after the first month of age. The majority of the deaths from
prematurity occurred under one month of age, and nearly 79 per
cent, of these neo-natal deaths occurred during the first week of
life.
Reference to another section will show that there has been
a considerable decrease in the mortality from infectious diseases
among young infants, and that this decrease has been most striking
in the case of diarrhoeal diseases. It is possible that we are
reaching the lower limit of mortality from this condition. Nevertheless,
it is striking that a considerable reduction in the death
rate from diarrhoeal diseases and from pneumonia would effect a
very marked improvement in the infant mortality rate. These
remarks apply equally to the country as a whole.
Consideration of the congenital group of conditions—
namely, congenital malformations, prematurity, injury at birth,
and atelectasis—will show that this group contributed 95 deaths,
or 36.7 per cent. towards the total. Further reduction in the
mortality from this group lies in the realm of ante-natal care.
Of the 86 deaths between the ages of one and five years it
is notable that pneumonia contributed 30, or 34.9 per cent. towards
the total. Of the other diseases which contributed relatively
largely, whooping-cough, tuberculous meningitis, and diphtheria
were the most important.
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