F. PRINCIPAL. CAUSES OF DEATH.
65. Table 11 shows the principal causes of death for the years 1946 to 1950.
TABLE 11.
Causes of death (classified by 1988 Revision of International List)
Number of Deatha
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
Smallpox
1,406
139
2
7
Cerebrospinal fever
86
137
19
16
Beri-beri
1,318
312
140
100
Diphtheria
62
52
40
76
39 135
Malaria
766
2563
193
116
89
Tuberculosia of respiratory system
1,476
1,420
1,443
1,712
2,166
Other forms of tuberculosis
343
443
$18
890
1,008
Syphilitic diseases
42
93
100
120
Influenzu
243
35
20
29
47
Cancer, malignant disease
277
201
307
513
650
Intracranial lesions of vascular origin...
139
264
276
294
$44
Other diseases of nervous system and
actise organs
132
180
78
80
Diseases of the heart
979
514
572
620
825
Other diseases of circulatory system
41
30
67
122
194
Bronchitia
839
5:29
419
611
743
Pneumonia (all forme)
4,129
3,464
3,167
4,391
4,485
Other diseases of respiratory system
197
139
125
105
248
Enteritin and diarrhoea ********
1.95
1,179
1,757
2,269
2514
337
301
318
454
492
220
341
360
343
287
982
1,289
1,214
1,201
1,262
445
517
600
722
142
101
113
81
114
631
686
781
620
718
469
522
803
889
1,052
16,663
Other diseases of digestive system Non-venereal diseases of genito-urinary
system
Premature births, congenital malforma- tions and diseases of early infancy
Other defined diseaseg
Old age, aenility
Violence, (accidents, suicide,
homicide, etc.)
11l-defined causes
TOTAL
DEL
13,231 13,434 16,287 18,445
66. Annexure F shows the number of cases of notifiable diseases and the deaths at all ages for the years 1946-1950, also the age groups of diseases notified for 1950 and the notifications, deaths and deaths per hundred notifications for cerebro-spinal meningitis, measles, diphtheria, enteric fever and smallpox since 1928.
PNEUMONIA.
The
67. The principal cause of death was pneumonia, all forms, figure of 4,485 represents a slight increase over the figure for 1949; of these deaths 2,117 occurred in children under one year old. DIPHTHERIA.
68. There was a considerable increase in the number of deaths from diphtheria towards the latter part of the year, and the number of cases notified gave rise to some anxiety but prospects of an increase in the Incidence in the new year fortunately did not materialize.
18
BABIES.
69. The outbreak of rabies which caused so much concern in 1949 died down to a considerable extent in 1950 and deaths from this disease totalled 11 human cases, 9 proved cases among dogs and one among cats. One human death occurred in November but with this exception there was no case of rabies in the last 5 months of the year.
70. The regulations introduced in 1949 for the control of dogs was still in operation at the end of 1960,
BERI-BERI.
71. Again there has been a fall in the number of deaths from beri- beri; and in view of the difficulty in finding clinical cases in the hospitals, there may well be some doubt about the diagnoses, mostly made post- mortem, of these recorded deaths.
ENTERITIS.
72. There was an increase in the deaths from enteritis and diarrhoea, 1,640 of these occurred among children under one year of age.
73. An investigation recently carried out by the infant welfare nurses and reported in greater detail under the heading of Maternity and Child Welfare, suggests that the large number of deaths occurring among children under one year may be due to the great frequency of artificial feeding.
MALIGNANT DISEASES.
74. Table 12 shows the number of deaths and the death rate per million for malignant diseases as a whole for the years 1946 to 1950.
TABLE 12,
Malignant Diseases for the year
1946-1950,
Year
Estimated Population
Number of Deaths
Death rate per million
M.
F.
T.
M.
F.
T.
1946
1,500,000-
114
168
277
73.5
105.2
178,7
1,600,000
1847
1,750,000
126
178
301
101.7
173.7
1948
1,800,000
169
*28
397
93.9
126.7
220.6
1949
1.857,000
269
244
513
144.0
131.4
276.3
1950
2,265,000
215
344
669
130.1
151.8
**
290.9
76. Table 13 shows the number of deaths and the death rate per 1,000 total deaths from malignant diseases according to site and sex for the years 1949 and 1950.
19
Mad