MATERNAL MORTALITY
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
1928.
Huddersfield. Maternal mortality rate ..
London, •• •, • • .. 108
1929, Huddersfield. Maternal mortality rate ..
London. •• IP • • 3.01
The moral of Dr. Churchill's figures is thus reversed.
Is the remarkable fall in Huddersfield's maternal mortality in the past year attributable to other causes, or is it due 10 increased use of the facilities provided by the Health Depart- ment ? Huddersfield is a textile town, and as Sir George Newman has pointed out : Maternal mortality is relatively high in the textile areas where many, women endure the doable strain of factory work and home work. Compare with the Huddersfield maternal mortality rate of 3.45 the 7.07 of Blackburn, the 6.25 of Dewsbury, the 6.85 of Halifax, and the lo.a3 of Wigan.
-The ante-natal medical care and the home-helps provided by the Health Department of Huddersfield have undoubtedly done much good. When the doctors of the Health Department are able to be in attendance during the confinement, aided by maternity nurses from the Health Department, a still greater improvement will be secured. This further service is bound to come.
It is regrettable that Dr. Clmrchill should find difficulty ill discussing midwifery in a lay journal, as the professional journal of the British Medical Association does not permit such a discussion in its columns.—I am, Sir, &c., Sim—I am loth to trespass further on your space, yet some points in Dr. Churchill's letter in reply to me ought not b, pass unanswered, as the welfare of maternity is not a personal question, but a great public issue, important to the race.
At a loss to understand why she should have quoted the Huddersfield figures of 1928 and the London figures of 1929, 1 have looked up the Ministry of Health Reports of the State of the Public Health for both these years. The result is exceedingly striking :— Per OW
live births
• E. SYLVIA PANI:111:11ST. West Rene, (Martens Road, Woodford Green, Essex.
Dr. Churchill writes : " The figures given for Huddersfield were taken. from the Report of the Medical Officer of Health of that Borough, but for some reason they do not agree with those quoted from the Ministry of Health Report. in any case figures for one year are not entirely reliable in accounting for a rise or fall in the death rate, and for purposes of comparison it would be better to discuss them in quinquew Mal or decennial groups. It most be obvious to your readers that technical details of midwifery are unsuitable for discussiol, in a lay journal. We can only deduce from the letters that have been published that Miss Pankhurst and the M.0.11. tar Huddersfield are the only two people who understand about the reduction of maternal mortality in this country. This opinion is not apparently shared by other experts whose opinion is available in the annual report of the Ministry a Health."
[This correspondence must DOW CORC.—EDI. Sped/110/1
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