[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Greenwich Borough].

  • Greenwich (London, England). Metropolitan Borough.
Date:
[1959]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Greenwich Borough]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/48 (page 3)
    - 3 - PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT, TOTOI HALL, GREENWICH, 5.E.10. July, 1959. To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors, Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to report on the health and environmental circumstances of Greenwich for 1958, The population continues to increase each year and the birth rate is slightly raised. Deaths show a small increase but the Infantile Mortality rate at 14.98 is the second lowest in the history of the Borough. As would be expected both the neo-natal and peri-natal rates also show correspond ing reductions. For the second successive year we had one maternal death which was the subject of a Coroners' Inquest. In analysing the causes of death, both cancer and heart and circulatory troubles are as usual the most common. There were 55 notifications of pulmonary tuberculosis, which is the lowest figure recorded since Greenwich became a Metropolitan Borou^i. In common with the rest of the country there has been a complete change in the pattern of disease in the last 25 years. Communicable disease is no longer of vital conse quence, although periodic outbreaks of such infections as poliomyelitis, dysentery and food poisoning - which shows an increase of 22 over last year - Indicate the continued need for vigilance. This is also borne out by troublesome outbreaks of antibiotic resistant staphylococcal infection in hospitals. It is therefore important that the immunisation and preventive services should be used by the vulnerable groups in the community to the maximum extent. Antibiotic drugs should also be used with discretion and with intelli gence In order that the development of resistant strains of organisms can be kept to a minimum. Preventive and palliative measures have now to be directed towards the degenerative diseases and the ailments associated with the stress of livingo Direct preventive action is impeded by an imperfect understanding of the underlying causes of ageing and the mechanisms of adaptation to stress but, as with the infectious diseases in the early days, action is being taken along sound empirical lines until more precise etiological principles have evolved. The services which are being progressively promoted for improving the conditions of old age and adjustment to advancing years illustrate this tentative and empirical approach. Genetical and biochemical research is also gradually revealing important contributory factors in the development of circula tory and heart disorders, and the mysteries of malignancy and of congenital defects may have a complex chemical basis within the nucleus of developing cells which may have practical preventive possibilities in the future. All this is, of course, speculative but the next great break-through in preventive medicine will almost certainly relate to the causation of malignancy in its many forms, to the basic processes of ageing, and to the underlying factors which pre dispose to congenital malformations arising during pregnancy. It would be surprising if future discoveries did not have practical applications on a broad community basis.