[Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, County of Zetland (Shetland Islands).

  • Shetland (Scotland). County Council.
Date:
1958
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, County of Zetland (Shetland Islands). Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/34 (page 5)
    CAKE OF MOTHERS AND YOUNG CHILDREN The table below shows the figures for the past five years for stillbirths, neo-natal deaths and. all deaths of infants under one year of age. (By neo-natal deaths are meant the deaths of infants during the firsts mchth after birth - most infant deaths occur within the firstfew days after birth and are caused by birth injuries, malformations, immaturity or other causes, the prevention of which is difficult). 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 Births 273 294 257 270 273 Total deaths under 1 year 12 L 10 11 8 Neo-natal deaths 11 4 8 7 6 Stillbirths 11 4 10 4 10 Infant Mortality Rate 44 14 39 41 29 As we are dealing with a small number of births : our infant mortality rate can show big variations from year to year. A truer picture can be got by taking a view of the figures over a five year period. In the period 1954-1958 there have been 1,367 live births and 45 deaths of infants, which would give a rate of 33 for the period. The actual rate for 1958 was 29 which is slightly higher than the rate for Scotland (27.7). Our infant mortality rate has varied between 33 and 27 for about twenty years when calculated over five year periods, and it does not seem to be getting any lower. As has been explained in previous reports, we once had an infant death rate which was far lower than the rate for Scotland, but during the last twelve years the infant mortality rate in the south (particularly in the cities) has improved markedly, and we can no longer claim any advantage. 36 of the 45 infant deaths in the last five years were neo-natal deaths; once an infant mortality rate gets to the 30 mark it becomes increasingly difficult to lower the rate further. The Child Welfare Clinic at Hillhead was attended by 165 different infants who made a total of 1,383 attendances. In the whole county including the town of Lerwick 5,553 visits were made by District Nurses and by the Health Visitor to 1,328 children of pre-school age. WELFARE FOODS / y