[Report 1907] / Medical Officer of Health, Bacup Borough.

  • Bacup (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1907] / Medical Officer of Health, Bacup Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/72 (page 18)
    The cancer problem is being investigated by the Imperial Research Committee ; the cause and cure are not solved. Experimental researches piove that in some (.f the lower animals spontaneous or natural cure has occurred. In others the cancer has been quiescent It is very probable that in the earliest stages the growth is local. If removed early there is every chance of a cure. INFANTILE MORTALITY. There were 69 deaths under one year, which gives a death-rate of 127 per 1000 births. In England and Wales for 1907 it was 118 per 1000 births. Of the 69 deaths 64 were legitimate and 5 illegitimate. The infantile death-rate for legitimate births eqnals 122 per 1000, whilst that for illegitimate births equals 250 per 1000. Our infantile mortality is higher than it ought to be. Di'. Sai’geant, the County Medical Officer of Health, says “ than an infantile death-rate exceeding 100 per 1000 births should be looked upon as a calamity, and that authorities should adopt well- known methods of sanitation to ]ov\er the death-rate to that nnmber.” In looking over the causes of death we ought to be able to reduce our infantile mortality by one- third. In our Boi’ough many mothers, some from necessity, are obliged to woi'k in our mills and weavingf sheds, so that the maternal duties of suckling and caring for the infants are not carried out, with the inevitable result that many die. In a Borough like Bacup there can be no doubt that properly equijiped Day Nurseries would be a boon, and that some lives would be saved. There are steps being taken to form a voluntary system based on the Huddersfield method, to lessen the infantile mortality. A Sub-Committee of the Health Committee has this matter in hand. In Huddersfield the results obtained are most gratifying, the death-rate being reduced to 97 per 1000 births. In our Borough, I believe, we have a lai’ger number of mothers engaged in the