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

  • Greenwich (London, England). Metropolitan Borough.
Date:
[1961?]
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.

    10/164 (page 6)
    6 PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT, TOWN HALL, GREENWICH. S.E.10 To The Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors, Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the privilege of presenting the Annual Report on the health and environmental circumstances of Greenwich for 1960. There was a slight decrease in the population, a decrease in the births and a small increase in the number of deaths. On the other hand the infantile mortality rate and the still birth rate showed a reduction and all the vital statistics recorded in the Report compare favourably with the County rate and the rates in England and Wales. The year was notable for the small number of infectious diseases notified. The total notifications were the lowest in the history of the Borough and the area was free from diphtheria and the enteric fevers. Dysentery was also less troublesome and the stringent control measures adopted by the school authorities and in the homes of cases and carriers, together with the close co operation of the general practitioners on treatment, undoubtedly contributed to this reduction. Notifications of both pulmonary and non-pulmonary tuberculosis increased slightly but has little statist ical significance. There were only four deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis, which is a remarkable tribute to the efficacy of the new therapeutic methods and to the devoted work of the curative and preventive aspects of the Tuberculosis service. Once again I am glad to include an account from Doctors Forgacs and Wraith of the work of the Chest Clinic at Maze Hill. It is gratifying to notice that B.C.G. vaccination of susceptible age groups in schools increased by 24 per cent over the 1959 figure. Although the number of diphtheria immunisations effected was an advance over the previous year there were many fewer vaccinations against smallpox. Protection against poliomyelitis continues to be made readily available at the County Council clinics for the under-40 age group and it is to be hoped that as large a proportion as possible of the young adult group of the population will avail themselves of this valuable protective meas ure. It is of course of paramount importance that parents make certain that all young children are given full immunisation courses. Turning to non-infectious diseases one must again note the continuing increase in deaths from malignancy, especially from