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Metropolitan Borough of Deptford.
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
New Cross, S.E.
To the Worshipful the Mayor, Aldermen and
Councillors.
Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in presenting the Annual Report on the
Health Administration of the Borough for the year 1912, and
although it is impossible to deal with each item in as full detail
as it deserves, yet the following pages deal, however briefly, with
most of the important features.
In comparing this report with previous years its enlargement
may be said to be an index of the additional duties
which now devolve upon the Public Health Department of
this Borough.
The most notable points in our statistics for Deptford from
a public health point of view during 1912 were the reduction
in the infantile mortality, the reduced number of deaths from
Infectious diseases, and the absence of any serious outbreak of
Epidemic Diarrœha amongst children. The above can only be
accounted for by the increased vigilance of this department,
aided by a sytem of voluntary notification of infantile diarrhœa
formulated by your medical officer, and also by climatic conditions.
Births.
It will be seen in the text that the birth rate for the Borough
was 26'5 per 1,000, which is '9 per 1,000 less than the previous
year, but I regret to state that there was no appreciable falling
off in the number of illegitimate births.