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CAM 24
Report of the medical Officer of health.
Public Health Department,
35, Brunswick, S.E.5.
1st May, 1925.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, —I beg to present to
you my annual report for the year 1924.
The report deals with the vital statistics and with the work
carried out by the Public Health Department during the year,
and is prepared in accordance with the Ministry of Health's
directions as conveyed in their Circular No. 540, dated 18th
December, 1924.
The general death rate for the Borough was 11.4 and the
infantile mortality rate 70 per thousand births, an increase of
.4 in the death rate and 14 points in the infantile mortality rate.
As the year 1923 proved to be an exceptional one from the
point of view of vital statistics, the health of the Borough for
1924 must be judged not from a rise or fall in the mortality rates
in any one year, but considered on the more solid basis of the
position extended over a period of years.
A steady decline in the rates of mortality is taking place,
and we may look forward to a greater improvement in the health
of the community when steps are taken to remove the causes
which beset the path of progress.
There still remains a large number of evils on the abolition of
which the health of the individual, to a large extent, depends.
Foremost amongst these stands out the question of housing.
the provision of proper and sufficient housing accommodation;
The removal of slums; smoke abatement, and a pure milk supply,
are matters calling for special attention.
On the other hand there is the question of the need for the
education of the individual in the elementary principles of
hygiene, so that he may know what is required of him to maintain
good health.
Further, for some time it has been recognised that the
existing National Health Insurance Scheme should be extended