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

  • Deptford (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 Deptford Borough]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    3/54 (page 1)
    Public Health Department, Deptford Town Hall, S.E.14. Telephones:— TIDeway 1288. TIDeway 1360. July, 1961. To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Metropolitan Borough of Deptford. Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have pleasure in presenting this report on the health of the Metro politan Borough of Deptford for 1960. Once again the Birth Rate has risen and the Death Rate has fallen but the Infantile Mortality Rate shows a considerable increase over last year's figure of 18-79 to 29-21 deaths per thousand live births. 38 deaths of infants under one year were recorded and of that figure, 24 died before the end of one week of life. The main medical causes of death in early infancy are premature birth, congenital defects and infection. At the moment infection is the only one that responds readily to preventive action but prematurity can be reduced to a minimum by adequate ante natal care providing that such care is commenced in the early months of pregnancy. The precise causes of congenital defects ocurring in the developing and unborn child are wrapped in the mysteries of heredity and the germ plasm. It is, of course, known that certain viral diseases con tracted by the mother in early pregnancy or exposure of the parents to the noxious influences of excessive X-rays or radio-active materials, either from fall-out or from radio-active isotopes used for medical or commercial purposes, can damage the genetic pattern of the developing embryo. It may be that back-ground radiation from the outer cosmos to which all living matter presumably has been exposed from the primor dial state acts on susceptible genetic matter and predisposes to the development of mutant genes. Whatever the cause or causes of these distressing happenings, there is no immediate and obvious application practicable to preventive medicine. The total notifications of infectious diseases at 388 reached a new low figure in the Borough's history. This has been, generally, a good year for Deptford. There have been no major epidemics although dysentery has continued to be occasionally troublesome. There was a very grati fying reduction in the notifications of pulmonary tuberculosis and deaths from this disease were reduced to seven for the whole year. This speaks highly for the preventive service organisation from the Chest Clinic at Harton Street, and I am again indebted to Dr. Rigby for another authori tative contribution to my report. The services to old people were greatly expanded by the appointment of another lady visitor. This has allowed more people to be visited and each old person to be given more personal supervision. It has also been possible to extend considerably the laundry service and a home bathing service has been instituted. The Department has been greatly assisted in this work by the many voluntary agencies in the Borough and by the Old People's Welfare Association, as well as by the help which we receive