The Work of Maternity and Infant Welfare Centres
1926-01 1926 1920s 7 pages - 4 - (121b) In 1924 the birth-rate was the lowest recorded since 1917-19. Yet the infantile death rate was higher than 1923, (the best year, 69 per 1,000) and rose to 75 per 1,000, and this general rate meant the loss of 54,557 babies - i.e., children under one year. It...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
January 1926
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/8F80CD06-7FEA-4332-A906-140C0727347A http://hdl.handle.net/10796/E07414BA-BD96-4630-A9DB-68BF43C0CC4D |
| Summary: | 1926-01
1926
1920s
7 pages
- 4 - (121b) In 1924 the birth-rate was the lowest recorded since 1917-19. Yet the infantile death rate was higher than 1923, (the best year, 69 per 1,000) and rose to 75 per 1,000, and this general rate meant the loss of 54,557 babies - i.e., children under one year. It is curious to note here, that France has a slightly higher birth-rate than England, but the infantile mortality rate is also higher. England is certainly ahead of France in saving her babies, and if the country is to continue to do this successfully, the following facts must be seriously considered. Take the year 1922. In England and Wales there died, of diseases largely preventable, 60,121 children under one year. 26,582 dying during the first month. Out of this number 17,160 died during the first week of life, and 8,127 on the first day. It is on this early wastage of life that Infant Welfare work has as yet barely made an impression, and the cause must be sought for in pre-natal conditions and pre-natal environment rather than in mistakes of management after birth. Again, this death-rate is not selective in the sense that the weakling dies and the strong child survives, but statistics show that where there is a high infant death-rate there is also a high death-rate below five years and poor health among older children. Also the high death-rate is found in mining and certain congested districts of industry. A bad example is Hartlepool where poverty-stricken areas abound, where rickets is on the increase and the infantile mortality is 132 per 1,000. It is also a point to remember that whereas we are steadily eliminating the once-dreaded summer diarrhoea, we have not been so successful in preventing deaths due to malnutrition and the respiratory diseases. In the case of diarrhoea, better sanitation, the wide-spread campaign against flies, the disappearance of the long-tubed bottle and probably the increase in breast feeding and the use of cleaner milk, have undoubtedly been factors in its diminution. On the other hand, deaths attributable to the
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |