View report page

MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Public Health Act, 1936—Section 203.
The number of births which were notified, as adjusted by transferred
notifications, was as follows:—
Live births 773 Notified by midwives 511
Still births 19 Notified by doctors and parents 54
Transferred notifications 227
792 792
The total is 76 fewer than in the year before and represents 98 per
cent, of the number of births registered during the year.
The Work of the Centres.
Up to September the activities of the Welfare Clinics maintained
the usual high level, but with the outbreak of war and the threat of
danger from the air the normal rhythm as interrupted. Attendances
fell owing partly to abstention by mothers and partly due to the policy
which was instituted of regulating attendances so that no unduly large
number of women and children were congregated in the Clinics at any
one time. But the Clinics carried on, and at no Centre were they
closed down. The essentials of this yital service were maintained, and
great credit is due to the Clinics staffs and voluntary workers who
accepted, and still accept, the great responsibility for the care of
mothers and children at the Centres where danger from the air is ever
present. Protection against blast and splinters was provided at or
near each Centre either in basements under the premises or in specially
constructed shelters adjoining.
Although the total attendances fell for the reasons indicated, the
number of women and children who attended the Centres rose to the
record figure of 2,828, in spite of the fact that the births in 1939
were the lowest for 4 years. The further increase in the mothers who
took advantage of the Maternity Clinics is particularly gratifying.
The number represents 66 per cent, of the notified births, a rise of 10
per cent, over the year before and the greatest percentage yet recorded.