Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 202-205. (Budapest, 2008)

TANULMÁNYOK — ARTICLES - VARGA, Gabriella: A comparative study of the social-political determinants of infant and child mortality in Sweden and Hungary 1850-1945. - Összehasonlító tanulmány a svéd és a magyar csecsemőhalandóság szociálpolitikai tényezőiről 1850 és 1945 között

there were 209 deaths out of 1000 live births in the period between 1883-90. Ten years later the IMR was 79,8 in Klara and 193,6 in "Katarina and Sofia". This elevated risk diminished to 60%, with the lowest IMR of 40,9 in Johannes parish and the highest IMR of 67,5 in Storkyrka parish between 1921-30. (St. m.skrift, 1932) Figure 3. IMR in municipalities in Stockholm and Budapest 1883-1930 Source: Statistisk mànadskrift 1932. 4. 11-15 (Swedish data), Bakács, 1948 (Hungarian data). Jakob and Johannes data from the first period are from 1886-90. Data from 1921-30 are preliminary. Stockholm had to cope with a great population increase during the second half of the 19

th century, the population of Stockholm grew from 160.000 in 1878 to 360.000 in 1926 (Burström, Bernhardt, 2001). After cholera epidemic of 3 853 sanitation routines changed gradually in Stockholm. Until 1860 there was a lack of piped water supply, no organised disposal of garbage and excreta and there was no sewage system (Burström, Bernhardt, 2001). Piped water was introduced in Stockholm in 1861, when it became available indoors, in courtyards, streets and squares. In 1900 88% of Stockholm's inhabitants had piped water in their houses (Högberg, 1983). The most vulnerable groups' situation got worse in societies in transition as we can follow here among the infants of parents with lower socio-economic status and unmarried mothers. We can also see however that protecting measures such as the law protecting unmarried mothers and introduction of piped water had also started in early 20

lh century.