[Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health, Bebington Borough.

  • Bebington (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1967
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health, Bebington Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/60 (page 4)
    TO THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE HEALTH COMMITTEE: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have pleasure in presenting my annual report for 1967. The adjusted birth rate, per 1,000 of the estimated population, was 18.7. This represents a recovery of the 1939 level, after a downward trend which reached its lowest point (12.9) in 1953. For the seventeenth year in succession no death was associated with pregnancy or childbirth. The oldest local report in my bookcase refers to the Lower Bebington Urban District Council area in 1902. It deals with Lower Bebington (as we now know it) New Ferry, and Port Sunlight. For various reasons the vital statistics appearing in this 1967 report are not strictly comparable with the very limited numerical data recorded in the chronicle for 1902. However, I think it is permissible to point out some obvious differences between then and now. The birth rate for 1902, which is described as “high, was recorded as 32.7 per 1,000 persons living in the district. The unadjusted death rate, described as “very low, was of the order of 11.36 per 1,000 persons living in the district per annum. At first sight this seems to compare favourably with the 1967 crude rate of 11.7, but it must be remembered that in 1902 the proportion of children was greater, and the proportion of elderly people smaller, than in the 1967 population. Of greatest significance in the attempt at comparison are the respective figures for infant mortality. From the table on page 7 it will be seen that infant mortality in the municipal borough has fallen in an erratic manner since 1939. It is now at by far its lowest level — 9.8 per 1,000 live births. The corresponding figure for 1902 was 101.8! Of further significance is the fact that 81% of the infant mortality in 1967 occurred during the first week of life. This then is a relatively vulnerable period of existence when prematurity, congenital abnormality, and birth injury exact their toll from a small number of infants who, for practical purposes, could virtually be regarded as stillborn. However, there has been an erratic four