§ 113. Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what were the rates of infant and maternal mortality in Scotland for each of the five years, respectively, preceding and succeeding the Second World War; and what were the causes of these differences.
§ Mr. J. StuartThe infant mortality and maternal mortality for the years 1934–38, and 1946–50, are as follows:
Infant Mortality (per 1,000 live births) Maternal Mortality (per 1,000 live births) 1934 77.7 6.2 1935 76.8 6.3 1936 82.3 5.6 1937 80.3 4.8 1938 69.5 4.9 1946 53.8 2.3 1947 55.8 2.1 1948 44.7 1.6 1949 41.4 1.3 1950 38.6 1.1 Many factors have contributed to the general improvement, including better living conditions flowing from a generally higher level of employment, better standards of maternal care, and the treatment of infections by new drugs including the antibiotics. It is not possible to set down in order of importance specific 69W causes for the general improvement, but it may be accepted that deaths from diarrhoeal diseases and respiratory infections contributed largely to the set-backs in infant mortality in 1936–37, and 1947.