[Report 1897] / Medical Officer of Health, Barnard Castle Local Board U.D.C.

  • Barnard Castle (England). Local Board of Health.
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Report 1897] / Medical Officer of Health, Barnard Castle Local Board U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    TO THE Annual Report, 1897. GENTLEMEN, I. On presenting my annual report for the year 1896 I was able to announce that the death-rate for that }?ear was the lowest on record. It is, therefore, with great pleasure that I make the announcement that once more the record is broken, and that the death- rate of the Barnard Castle Urban District, for 1897, stands at a yet lower figure. The number of deaths recorded is 72, but to these must be added 3 which occurred at the Sedgefield Asylum, of persons belonging to the district, making a total of 75. On the other hand, 9 deaths of persons belonging to other places occurred within the district, all but 2 of which took place at the Teesdale Union Workhouse, and are included in the above figures, therefore the actual number of deaths amounts to 66, giving a death-rate for the year of 15-2 per 1,000 inhabitants, the rate for 1896 having been 16-3 per 1,000. INFANTILE MORTALITY. It is with regret, however, that I have to announce that, nothwithstanding the decreased total death-rate, the mortality among children under 5 years of age again shows an increase, the number of deaths among such being 17 as compared with 14 in 1896. This gives a rate of infantile mortality of 375 per 1,000, Of these, 11 were deaths ot children under one year, giving a death-rate of 2*53 per 1,000. In my last report I pointed out that district No. 3, comprising Bridgegate, Thorngate and the Bank, and inhabited chiefly by a working-class population, was where most deaths among infants occurred, and again, in 1897, this fact is strikingly exemplified, for 12 out of the 18 deaths occurred in that district, of which number 9 were of infants under one year. These figures forcibly illustrate the fact that the prevailing ignorance among the poorer classes as to infant feeding, and the generally unsanitary conditions, due to dirt and overcrowding, in which these people live, is responsible annually for many preventable deaths among young children. The causes of death were as under : — Rheumatic Fever ... ... ... 1 Bronchitis, etc. ... ... ... 4 Heart Disease ... ... ... 1 Injuries ... ... ... 1 Other Diseases ... ... ... n Total ... ... ... j 8