Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2015 number

A problem of changing quantitative indices of infant mortality aroused interest among the officials of the People’s Commissariat of Health right after World War II. Several reports were devoted to this issue at the medical-sanitary conference in 1946. Its participants represented not only the central health-care agencies but also the regional bodies. In the course of the discussions they noted the effectiveness of health measures undertaken during the war. In response to such optimistic reports of his colleagues N. A. Semashko urged to pay attention to active migrations that took place within the region during the war. Modern views on this issue remain heterogeneous, there does not exist any one single concept. The author studies various approaches to interpreting changes of quantitative indices of infant mortality in wartime and reveals dominant viewpoints in research literature at different stages of formation of demographical knowledge about the Great Patriotic War. The paper shows factors that influenced decrease in infant mortality during the war based on a complex of statistical and narrative sources. The author studied indicators of monthly dynamics of postnatal mortality in 1941-19454; investigated causations of infant mortality for males and females in the age groups 0-4, 5-9, and 10-14 years; investigated specifics of interaction between the local health authorities and regional statistical agency concerning the problem of infant mortality and children’s health protection. The article reflects a peculiar attitude of the People’s Commissariat of Health towards a problem of rapid increase in infant mortality. The author substantiates an assumption that the reduction of infant mortality influenced the birth rate in the region.