Heilbrigðisskýrslur - 01.12.1948, Qupperneq 259

257
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 tuberc.ulosis. At the saiue 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 school
inspection in the whole country, with the exception of one district,
comprising 14087 children.
12. Maternity (cf. tables XII—XIY). The total number of births in
1948 was 3901, 3820 born alive and 81 stillborn (20,8%c of the total
number).
Deaths in connection with childbirth during the preceding years
have been as follows:
1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948
Accidents of Childbirth .... 3 4 10 8 7 8 7 6 10 7
Puerperal Sepsis ......... 2 1 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 „
Total Number of Deaths .... 5 5 13 11 10 9 8 7 11 7
The maternity death rate 1948 is 1,8 per 1000 children born. The
distribution of accidents of childbirth is shown on page 13.
13. Artificial Abortion (cf. table XII).
During the year 39 artificial abortions took place under the Birth
Control Act, which came into operation in 1935 (in the preceding year
the number had also been 39). In 9 out of these 39 cases social as well
as medical indications had been taken into consideration.
14. Accidents. The figure of deaths by accidents is 0,7 per 1000 of the
■whole population.
1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948
Deaths by Suicide ........ 12 12 8 13 12 7 12 18 10 11
— — other Violence .. 55 93 195 117 127 124 87 94 100 81
Thc distribution of deaths by accidents is shown on pages 14—15.
15. Care of lnfants may be said to be fairly good, the great majority
°f the children being breast-fed. The midwives have made out a report
(table XIII) concerning 3845 infants born during the year (the total
number of births being 3901, stillbirths included). Reports on the
nutritions of infants were submitted in 3693 cases which accordingly
were grouped as follows (Reykjavik figures in brackets):
Breast-fed .................. 92,2% (98,6%)
Breast- and bottle-fed .... 4,1 — ( 0,7 —)
Bottle-fed only ............. 3,7 — (0,7 —)
16. Sanitary Officials and Workers (cf. table I). The total number
°f trained medical men in Iceland was 176 in 1948. There are 51 medi-
cal districts, but there is a difficulty in filling some of the smallest
33