Annual medical and health report / Nigeria.

  • Nigeria. Medical Department
Date:
[1936]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual medical and health report / Nigeria. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/122 page 11
    1936. Town. Deaths. Death-rate per 1,000. Male. Female. Total. Calabar . 205 133 338 195 Kano Township. 77 39 116 126 Ebute Metta . 244 217 461 22-2 Lagos . 1,089 813 1,932 13-8 Port Harcourt ... . 115 79 194 10'0 Totals and combined rates .. 1,730 1,311 3,041 14*7 (5) Infant Mortality. 42. Of the number of deaths registered in 1936 some 683 were recorded in respect of infants as compared with 580 infant deaths for the previous year. The ratio of infant deaths per thousand live births rose from 130 in 1935 to 140 in 1936. 43. An analysis of the causes of deaths in infants in the Lagos registration district, where certification is probably more thorough than that in other places where fewer qualified medical practitioners and laboratory facilities are available, records the fact that diseases of the respiratory system come first in importance, forming 304 per thousand deaths from all causes. Next comes that rather vague group of conditions met with in early life including congenital debility, prematurity, marasmus, asthenia, etc., which accounts for 283 per thousand deaths in infants from all causes. Convulsions were given as the cause of death in 16 per thousand infant deaths, whilst malaria was certified in 6 per thousand. It is not improbable that a definite propor¬ tion of the deaths from convulsions are really attributable to malaria. (6) Still-births. 44. The larger number of still-births which terminate pregnancy in Nigeria never come to the knowledge of the Registrars of Vital Statistics. No still-birtlis were recorded at Kano and only one and two were noted at Calabar and Port Harcourt respectively. There is no doubt whatsoever that these figures do not represent the actual state of affairs. In Lagos where the community is more familiar with the custom of reporting still-births, some 110 were recorded as compared with 3,329 live births—a ratio of 33 per thousand live births. (7) Maternal Mortality. 45. Forty-nine deaths of women in child-birth were recorded during the year, giving a rate of just over 10 per thousand live births. The rate for Lagos attained to the comparatively low figure of 7.2 per thousand live births. In view of the relatively small proportion of women who attend ante-natal clinics, of the fact that unskilled interference by unqualified handy-women is the rule rather than the exception, and of the overcrowding and unhygienic conditions still met with in many parts of Lagos, it is surprising that the loss of life in women at child-birth is not much higher. It might well be argued that a number of deaths from puerperal fever, accidents at parturition and during the puerperium were, in fact, attributed to other conditions. Against this, however, the maternal mortality rate at Massey Street Maternity Hospital and Dispensary where 778 women were delivered in Note.—The infant mortality rate for England and Wales in 1936 was 59, that for the Union of South Africa in 1935 being 63.
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