The look of the provincial president on infant mortality in Salvador, 1857-1870

Abstract

Taking as a presupposition that the current forms of social life, institutions and customs have their origin in the past, this present study aims to analyze infant mortality in Salvador in the period of 1857 to 1870. Therefore, this study was developed within a historical perspective, descriptive and exploratory, using as a method the document research. The sources of the data collection were reports of 24 provincial presidents of Bahia cataloged in the public file of Bahia and Doctoral theses from Bahiana School of Medicine in the nineteenth century. Results: The reports analyzed in the period of 1857 to 1870 showed the absolute numbers of deaths by age, based on the burials occurred in the cemeteries of the city. The burials reported in the period 33.66% were children under 10 years, and of these, 38% occurred among children aged 1 month to 1 year old. The
causes of infant death are related to neonatal tetanus (disease of the seven days), followed by the evils of teething, whooping cough and worms. Only three of the 24 presidents demonstrated, through their reports, some concern about high infant mortality, but they did not propose any measure to combat it. The child mortality was seen as an obstacle to population growth, was perceived more as an economic problem than a public health problem.