INFANT MORTALITY, WOOLWICH, POPLAR AND NORTH KENSINGTON.

HC Deb 23 July 1931 vol 255 cc1668-9

50. Mr. WEST

asked the Minister of Health what were the infant mortality rates for 1930 in Woolwich, Poplar and North Kensington?

The MINISTER of HEALTH (Mr. Arthur Greenwood)

The provisional infant mortality rate in 1930, i.e., the number of deaths of children under one year of age per 1,000 live births, was 42 for the borough of Woolwich and 55 for the borough of Poplar. The Registrar-General has no similar information in respect of North Kensington, but according to the annual report of the medical officer of health the infant mortality rate in 1930 for that portion of the borough of Kensington was 76.

Mr. WEST

Does not the right hon. Gentleman consider that there is some- thing vitally wrong when in a district like North Kensington, a middle-class area, there is an infant death-rate of 20 per cent. above that of Poplar?