[Report 1897] / Medical Officer of Health, Royal Tunbridge Wells Borough.

  • Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Report 1897] / Medical Officer of Health, Royal Tunbridge Wells Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The importance, from a statistical point of view, of the con¬ servation of infant life is forcibly brought out in the returns of the Registrar General for England and Wales for the year 1897. From these I am able to extract the following information :— 156 out of every 1,000 born died during the first year of life ; 8*8 out of every 1,000 aged between 1 and 60, died during the j^ear; 66*2 out of every 1,000 aged over 60, died during the year Had the infant mortality of this Borough been equal to that of the country generally, the loss would have been 95 instead of 54, and our general death rate would have been 13*7 instead of 12*2. It is important therefore to take every precaution to insure the protection of infant life in face of the enormous avoidable loss which now obtains here as elsewhere. (See Table VI.) This can best be done by educating the people in the manage¬ ment of their infants, by insuring the careful sanitary regulation of dairies, cowsheds, and the homes of the poor, and by providing proper housing for the artizan and poorer classes. TABLE VI. RATE OF INFANT MORTALITY FOR SIX YEARS. 1892 Death-rate of Infants under 1 year per 1.000 born 114.9 1893 5* it 11 1107 1894 tt it 11 887 1895 11 it 11 1128 1896 ft it V 117*6 1897 t t it It 87-8 ] Mortality at Several Ages.—Table vn. shews the mortality in groups of ages contrasted for a period of five years. During the year 1897 the striking features are a diminution in the mortality under 1 year of age, and at ages over 60.