Maternal mortality report
1934-10 1934 1930s 19 pages MATERNAL MORTALITY OUR last Conference was held at a time of considerable difficulty, and as we then pointed out national and international financial stringency was such that there seemed no immediate possibility of the redemption of the larger pledges for the improvemen...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London : The Maternal Mortality Committee
October 1934
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/EFB67B51-3836-41CD-BBA5-993D4765F4FA http://hdl.handle.net/10796/6971C518-DFAD-4453-B3FF-B3C6F99E4977 |
| Summary: | 1934-10
1934
1930s
19 pages
MATERNAL MORTALITY OUR last Conference was held at a time of considerable difficulty, and as we then pointed out national and international financial stringency was such that there seemed no immediate possibility of the redemption of the larger pledges for the improvement of the maternity services given under happier conditions ; and while urging the maintenance and reasonable expansion of arrangements already made by Local Authorities for maternal welfare, the Conference were obliged to accept for the moment the limitations imposed on them. Now that some degree of prosperity appears to be returning to this country, we put forward once again the claims of Maternity for complete protection and support. Maternal Mortality The death-rate associated with childbearing remains almost stationary, and approximately four mothers still die for every 1,000 babies born alive. The deaths from puerperal sepsis, the principal cause of maternal mortality, tend to rise rather than to decline. The fact that the puerperal rate is 4.51 in 1938, as against 3.87 in 1911, is both arresting and disturbing. It is incredible that the efforts made during the past ten years or so to improve conditions of midwifery can have failed to give some beneficial result, at least in the reduction of maternal suffering and sickness. But until statistical returns give positive evidence of a declining death-rate, and as long as we are convinced that a substantial part of the mortality is avoidable,* we cannot believe that enough is being done to solve one of the most puzzling and complex problems of preventive medicine. It has been suggested that the death-rate is to some extent misleading, and that deaths associated with childbirth have in fact declined, although the decline is masked by an increase in deaths from septic abortion which are said to be particularly prevalent in certain areas. Since 1926 the Registrar-General has published separate figures for deaths from sepsis following abortion and following childbirth which suggest that fatal cases of septic abortion are increasing. This is a matter which should receive *The Interim Report of the Departmental Committee on Maternal Mortality and Morbidity stated, and the Final Report confirmed, that at least half the maternal deaths are preventable. (3)
292/824/1/20 |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |