[Report 1950] / Medical Officer of Health, Epping (Union) R.D.C.

Epping (England). Rural District Council.

Date:: 1950

Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1950] / Medical Officer of Health, Epping (Union) R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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Epping Rural Council To the Chairman and Members of the Epping Rural District Council. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have pleasure in presenting to you the Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health and the Chief Sanitary Inspector for the year ending 31st December, 1950, on the health and sanitary circumstances of the district. Vital Statistics The birth rate was slightly lower at 17.1 per 1,000 population, and the death rate was slightly higher at 11.5 per 1,000 population. With 328 births and 221 deaths there was a natural population increase of 107, but the Registrar General estimated our population at 19,160, an increase of 840 on the 1949 estimate. The difference in the natural increase and the Registrar General’s estimate is explained by the growth of Harlow New Town. The infant death rate (36.5 per 1,000 live births) is above the figure for England and Wales (24.8 per 1,000 live births). There was no maternal death in the district. Infectious Diseases In 1950 eleven new cases of Tuberculosis were notified, compared with six cases in 1949. The disease caused four deaths compared with one death in the previous year. Control of tuber- culosis by artificial immunisation with Bacille Calmette-Guerin (B.C.G.) has been practised in Scandinavian countries for some years and during 1950 this method of control has been introduced to Epping Rural District for persons who are exposed to special risk of infection. A Mass Radiography Unit is expected to visit the district in 1951 when it is hoped to X-ray as many adult chests as possible and thereby discover unsuspected cases of pulmonary tuberculosis in need of treatment.