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52
This may in part be attributed to the work undertaken by the Essex
Cottage Nursing Home, the Maternity Clubs associated with the
Churches,.and to the effective supervision exercised by the County
Authority in the administration of the Midwives' Act of 1902.
The bad results of unskilled attendance upon lying-in women do not
always show themselves in deaths from Puerperal Fever, and in spite of
our favourable record for the year, for other reasons as well as for the
safety of the mother, women during and shortly before and after
confinement should be under the supervision of a doctor.
Very few persons who train as midwives have the requisite skill or
knowledge to undertake alone with safety the care of lying-in women,
and more particularly the care of the new-born infant.
The care of the latter requires great skill and knowledge, but
unfortunately this is not always recognised, aud the consequences of
certain affections, such as Ophthalmia Neonatorum, when unrecognised
or improperly treated, are disastrous.
It is asserted that 10 per cent. of all cases of blindness in the adult is
the result of Ophthalmia in infancy, and the British Medical Journal
has pointed out that the malign influence of this disease is not one whit
less grave in its social effects than that of many of the maladies
now included in the list of notifiable infectious diseases.
As the tendency is for women to undertake midwifery without any
supervision by a doctor, I would advise that Ophthalmia Neonatorum
be added to those diseases already scheduled under the Notification
Act of 1889.
PHTHISIS OR CONSUMPTION.
The deaths registered from this disease were 88, compared with
108 in 1909, 103 in 1908, 101 in 1907, 123 in 1906, 93 in 1905, and
96 in 1904.
Twenty-four deaths were registered from Tuberculosis of Meninges,
and 16 from other forms of the disease.
The total deaths from Tuberculosis are, therefore, fewer by 14 than
in 1909, and represent a death-rate of .9 per 1,000 of the population, or
11 per cent. of the total deaths.
Assuming that these deaths and a third of those under 1 year of age
are preventable under ideal conditions and were non-existent, our deathrate
would be reduced to less than 7.
That such a possibility is quite true, shows how much preventive
work still lies within your power.
A copy of the Memorandum by the Medical Officer of the Local
Government Board on the Administrative Measures suggested to be taken
against Tuberculosis in pursuance of the Public Health (Tuberculosis)