Editors: ALAN MONCRIEFF, M.D..
The provisional figures from the Registrar General for 1948 are remarkable for the lowest infant mortality rate for England and Wales ever recorded. This now stands at 34 per 1,000 related live births and is a big improvement on the previous lowest figure of 41 reached in 1947. The general death rate was also the lowest (10.8 per 1,000 total population) so that it is clear that the country has been experiencing a healthy year. It has been suggested that the academic developments of child health departments in nearly all the universities in the past few years may be allotted some share in the credit for the record infant mortality rate.