[Report 1925] / Medical Officer of Health, Craven (Combined) Sanitary Districts.

  • Craven Combined Sanitary Districts.
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1925] / Medical Officer of Health, Craven (Combined) Sanitary Districts. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CRAVEN COMBINED NIX ARY DISTRICTS. Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health to the Joint Committee, for the year 1925. Gentlemen, I have now the honour of presenting to you my Forty-sixth Annual Report as Medical Officer of Health for the Combined Sanitary Districts of Craven. This preliminary report to the Joint Committee, written on the same lines as heretofore, is a brief summary of matters affecting the district as a whole. Further details, and other items of local interest will be dealt with in the reports presented to each of the nine Local Authorities. Sanitary Progress.—Progress has been made during the year as the result of routine inspection, such as sanitary improvements and the abatement of insanitary conditions found, and the prevention and limitation of the spread of infectious disease. Fair progress has been made in New Housing in several of the districts, also in reconstruction of old property, in the improvement of existing Dairies and Cowsheds, and under the New Meat Regulations. Two Public Inquiries, under the Ministry have been held for Water Supply improvement and extension and the provision of a Cemetery, and sanction given to loans amounting to £6,540. Details of these will appear in the local reports. Dr. Pearce, who had been asked by the Ministry of Health to enquire into the working of the different Combined Districts in the country, visited and inspected all my districts between September and November last. He appeared pleased with the methods adopted, and the amount of work done, but considered that in two of the large Rural Districts that they were understaffed to cope with the requirements of recent legislation, and suggested improved means of transit to cover the large areas involved. The statistics for the year 1925 for the whole district are as follows :—Birth Rate, 14-6, as against 15*4 last year; Death Rate, 12*7, as against 14*5 last year; Infant Mortality, 48*6 per 1000 births, as compared with 75*3 last year; Zymotic Rate, 0*2, as against 0*3 per 1000 living; and old-age percentage, 53*7, as against 47*7. The Birth Rate is lower than it has been since 1919. The general Death Rate is lower than in the previous three years. The Infant Mortality is the lowesst upon record. The Zymotic Rate is equal to the lowest recorded, and 5 districts are without a Zymotic Rate, while the Old Age percentage is the highest ever recorded, and reaches over 50 per cent, in no less than six out of the 9 districts.