Heilbrigðisskýrslur - 01.12.1944, Page 212

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11. School Inspection. In Iceland an obligatory medical examina-
tion of all school-children takes place at the beginning of each session,
especially with regard to tuberculosis. At the same time the sanitary
condition of the schools is inspected and all matters bearing upon
the health of the children are looked into. The inspection is under-
taken by the district medical officers. In Reykjavik, however, there are
special school medical officers. Table X shows the result of shool
inspection in the whole country with the exception of two districts
comprising 13745 children.
12. Maternity (see tables XII—XIV). The total number of births
in 1944 was 3213 born alive and 94 stillborn, or 28,4%0 of the total
number.
Deaths in connection with childbirth during the preceding years
have been as follows:
1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944
Accidents of Childbirth .... 7 3 6 3 3 410 8 7 8
Puerperal Sepsis ............ 3 1 3 3 2 1 3 3 3 1
Total Number of Deaths .... 10 4 9 6 5 5 13 11 10 9
The maternity death rate 1944 is 2,7 per 1000 children born.
The distribution of accidents of childbirth is shown on page 12.
13. Artifical Abortion (see table XII).
During the year 49 artificial abortions took place under the Birth
Control Act, which came into operation in 1935 (in the preceding year
there had been 46). In 18 out of these 49 cases social as well as health
indication had been taken into consideration.
14. Accidents. The figure of deaths by accidents (1,0 per 1000 of the
whole population) was a lot higher than the average number before
the war.
1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944
Deaths by Suicide ........ 8 15 9 15 12 12 8 13 2 7
— — other Violence .. 90 102 51 75 55 93 195 117 127 124
15. Care of lnfants may be said to be fairly good, the great majority
of the children being breast fed. The midwives liave made out a report
(table XIII) concerning 3161 infants born during the year (out of
3307 births). In 2999 cases the nutrition of the infants after birth is
reported as follows (Reykjavik figures in brackets):
Breast-fed.................... 91,4 % (97,4 %)
Breast- and bottle-fed .... 4,4 — (1,6 —)
Bottle-fed only ............ 4,2— ( 1,0—)
16. Sanitary Officials and Workers (see table I). The total number
of trained medical men in Iceland was 155 in 1944. There are 50 medi-
cal districts, but there is a beginning difficulty in filling some of the
smallest and remotest. The number of midwives holding appointments