Abstract
ACCORDING to the Director-General of Health, in 1939 the death-rate of New Zealand with a population of a little more than 1,500,000 (including 80,000 Maoris) was 9˙20 per 1,000 population (excluding the Maoris) and the infantile mortality (with the same exclusion) 31˙14 per 1,000 live births. The birth-rate was 18˙73 per 1,000 of population. Heart disease was the principal cause of death, and cancer, from which there were 1,815 deaths, came next. The incidence of infectious diseases was low, but their notification among the Maoris had increased. The nutrition of the majority of school children was satisfactory, but there was still some evidence of subnormal nutrition. Maternal deaths due to pregnancy or childbirth other than deaths from septic abortion numbered 85, a death-rate of 2˙95 per 1,000 births, as compared with 2˙80 for England and Wales in 1938. There were 147 cases of puerperal sepsis notified. The rise in the number of deaths due to this cause has been attributed to the wrongful use of sulphonamides resulting in a granulocytosis. The maternal mortality among the Maori women, a large number of whom are still delivered by native methods, was 4˙13 as compared with 5˙41 the previous year.
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Health of New Zealand. Nature 146, 744 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/146744b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/146744b0