Report on the public health / Southern Rhodesia.

  • Southern Rhodesia. Department of Health.
Date:
[1931]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the public health / Southern Rhodesia. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/36 (page 4)
    The mothers of Southern Rhodesia are to be congratulated upon the care of their children, which is reflected by the lowest infant death rate on record in the Colony (44.75) and one which compares so favourably with the corresponding rates in the Union and in England. Nevertheless this rate can be brought low^er. Many of the deaths were due to diseases which are preventable. This fact is demonstrated by the two following tables. European Infant Deaths, Table 1. Causes of Death, 1922-31. Disease. Bronchitis and pneumonia ... Diarrhoea and enteritis . Malaria. Measles, whooping coug dysentery . Various, not classified above Totals . No. of deaths. Percentage. icy 238 39.01 87 14.26 70 11.48 50 8.20 ia, 34 5.57 131 21.48 610 100.00 , Table 11. Deaths during different Months, 1922-31. No. of deaths. Percentage. Eirst month . . 277 45.41 2 months to 6 months . . 196 32.13 6 months to 12 months . . 137 22.46 Totals. . 610 100.00 Neo-Natal Mortality.—Nearly one-lialf of the deaths of babies under one year occur during the first month of life, which constitutes the neo-natal mortality. These deaths are chiefly due to premature birth and diseases of early infancy (see Table I.). It is generally recognised that such deaths are due chiefly to causes operating before birth, and that the remedy lies largely in the ante-natal supervision of pregnant women, a measure which is also regarded as perhaps the most important essential for reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. Diarrhoea and Enteritis, from which 11.48 per cent, deaths occurred, are usually the result of an infection, frequently fly-borne. Malaria ranks fourth as a cause of infant death, for 8.20 per cent, of which it was responsible. Malaria is a definitely preventable disease. It can thus be seen that the very low infant death rate of Southern Rhodesia can be reduced still lower. It must further be pointed out that the death rate of babies is a measure of only part of the injury done, seeing that the diseases which kill some produce serious and often long-lasting damage in those that survive. Valuable work in connection wdtli child life is carried out, especially among the Asiatic and coloured population, by the Child Welfare Societies in our larger towns. These receive grants from the Government and the local authorities concerned. (5) Maternal Mortality. There were six deaths of European mothers due to pregnancy and child birth during 1931, corresponding to a maternal mortality rate of 5.08 per 1,000 live births. Though lowTer than the exceptionally high rate of 6 per 1,000 births in 1930, this still represents a high rate of maternal mortality. The maternal mortality rates of recent years are given below and compared with those of the Union of South Africa and of England and Wales.