London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Wandsworth 1967
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth, Metropolitan Borough]
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63
Perhaps of lesser importance is the role of the Handicap and
Observation Register in facilitating research projects carried out
in the field of preventive medicine; genetics, malformation, malignancy
in childhood, blood diseases, etc., which are initiated by
various bodies such as the Medical Research Council, the Institute
of Child Health or the Greater London Council's Research and
Intelligence Unit; an example of this is the investigation into the
incidence of spina bifida and anencephaly in London which is
referred to on page 68 of this Report.
The following tables give some statistical information about the number of children on the Handicap and Observation Register:—
| Total number of children under five years of age | 27,500 | |||
| Number on the Handicap and Observation Register on 31st December, 1967 | 1,513 | |||
| Under 5 | 1,513 | 1,248 | 265 | |
| Under 1 | 557 | 511 | 46 | |
| 1 | 396 | 349 | 47 | |
| 2 | 289 | 241 | 48 | |
| 3 | 194 | 136 | 58 | |
| 4 | 77 | 11 | 66 | |
| Number of children on the register on 1st lanuary, 1967 | 1,844 | |||
| Number placed on the register during 1967 | 963 | |||
| Number taken off the register during 1967 | 1,294 | |||
| Number placed on the register within three months of birth | 583 | |||
| Notifications (to the Registrar General) of congenital mal-formations observable at birth in live and stillborn children:— | ||||
| Central nervous system | 24 | |||
| Eye and ear | 6 | |||
| Alimentary system | 13 | |||
| Heart and great vessels | 4 | |||
| Respiratory system | 1 | |||
| Urogenital system | 7 | |||
| Limbs | 44 | |||
| Other skeletal | 5 | |||
| Other systems | 10 | |||
| Other malformations | 10 | Total | 124 | |