[Report 1933] / Medical Officer of Health, St Helens County Borough.

  • St. Helens (Merseyside, England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1933
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1933] / Medical Officer of Health, St Helens County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/170 (page 4)
    TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS OF THE COUNTY BOROUGH OF ST. HELENS. Mr* Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to submit the 61st Annual Report on the health of St. Helens for the year ended the 31st December, 1933. The year 1933 was not a healthy year in St. Helens. Severe epidemics of influenza, whooping cough, and measles, together withn increased prevalence of diphtheria and the somewhat unusual out¬ breaks of enteric fever and cerebro spinal meningitis (regarding all of which detailed report is made in the Infectious Diseases Section), are all reflected in increases in mortality rates. The death rate for 1933 of 14.0 per 1,000 of the population is, with the exception of the year 1929, the highest since 1919, and the infant mortality is the highest since 1919, though very nearly approached in the years 1922 and 1929. What effect poverty due to industrial depression has had on the incidence of epidemics and on the mortality rates it is difficult to say. Although the presence of epidemics such as occurred in St. Helens during 1933 is not necessarily dependant on a lowering of general health, observations of cases admitted to hos¬ pitals or attending the various clinics suggest there has been some slight falling off. The position will, therefore, have to be watched carefully. Two of the most important occurrences during the year affecting the health services were the passing of the St. Helens Cor¬ poration Act, 1933 and the commencement of work on Slum Clearance Schemes. The new Act contains many new sanitary clauses which strengthen considerably the Corporation’s powers in relation to health matters. The commencement of work on Slum Clearance Schemes marks the commencement of a programme (printed as an Appendix) by means of which it is hoped to do away with all slums in St. Helens by 1938.