Milford chronicle., 1920-04-09
INFANT MORTALITY
RATE IN DELAWARE
BOARD OF HEALTH BULLETIN SHOWS
DEATHS BETWEEN ONE AND FIVE
YEARS EXCESSIVE.

That there is a very serious and un
necessary loss of life in Delawar,
among children between the ages o
and years is shown by a bulletin
issued by the State Board of Health
In the year 1918 there were so many
deaths of children between those ages
that the total number of deaths oil
infants who had not reached their sec
ond birthday totaled 1913.
The figures for 1919, which are now
available. show a gratifying decrease
the number being 662 under two years
of age. but this is considered an ex-
cessively high rate. The total num-
Der Of deaths of infants under 1 year
during 1918 was 769 and for 1919 the
number was 562.
Delaware is fortunate in having
several organizations and many pri-
vate individuals directly interested in
the conservation of child health. A
realization on the part of the public
Of the tremendous infant loss in Del
aware will doubtless be followed by a
demand that every known method of
saving infant lives be adopted 1t
must also be remembered that a large
number of infants who do not die are
permanently handicapped in life by
the same conditions that cause the
deaths Of so many others. Mortality
figures do not tell the whole story of
the results Of improper care OF in
fants.
The figures for Wilmington for 1918 1
show total deaths Of infants under 1 I
year of age to have been 440, and for
rural New Castle county 121, making
a total for the county of 561. For 1919
the figures were for Wilmington 290
and for rural New Castle county 80,
a total of 379.
The number of deaths under one
year of age per 1000 births is usually
known as the infant mortality rate,
but this rate cannot be determined for
Delaware owing to the incomplete
birth registration. In rural New Cas-
tie County there were more deaths
than births reported during 1919 and
during the first three months of 1919
there was only one registration dis
trict outside Of Wilmington that re-
ported more births than deaths. In
Wilmington the birth registration is
fairly complete and the infant mortal
ity rate in that city has averaged 125
for the last four years compared with E
So for the congested city of New York
This means that out of every thousand
chudren who have been born in VIII y
in the last four years SO have :
died who would have survived if they =
had been born in the largest city of =
the country, where every effort is =
made to conserve child life. d
All Of the records point strongly to :,
the fact that the work Of the health I.
centers had a marked effect in the re- !
ductiOn Of the infant death rates in =
1913. This work had not progressed =,
in 1918 to have an effect "a
on the mortality records but the work II
was we'll organized throughout the en- 4
tire year OF 1919 and, without going .,
into history of every case supervis- n
9d by the nurses, it is safe to assume +
hat the large decrease in the deaths n
rom diarrheal diseases, together with a,
he general low infant death rate thru p,
)ut the summer as compared with n,
hat of the two or three preceding fr
7ears, was due very largely to these IA
,ducations health centers, to the pure C-
milk dispensed by them and to the Ii
ollow-up work of the nurses.