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CAM 37
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Camberwell, S.E.5.
September 26th, 1949.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell.
Mr. Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors,
I have the honour to submit my Report on the public
health and sanitary conditions in the Metropolitan Borough of
Camberwell during the year 1948.
It is gratifying to be able to report that the health of the
inhabitants of the Borough was maintained at a satisfactory
standard. The population, estimated by the Registrar-General
to be 178,200, showed an increase of 3,140 over the estimated
figure for the previous year. Although the birth rate fell from
24.4 per 1,000 of the population in 1947 to 19.0 last year, yet
this figure considerably exceeded the death rate of 11.4. The
infantile mortality rate of 31 per 1,000 live births is the lowest
ever recorded in Camberwell.
Infectious diseases showed no cause for alarm during the
year. Notifications rose from 1,972 (1947) to 2,754 but this
increase was mainly due to an epidemic of measles of a mild
character.
There was no serious outbreak of food poisoning during the
year, but a number of instances were brought to the notice of
the Public Health Department of the occurrence of cases of
sickness and diarrhoea at institutions in the Borough which
were investigated. The increase in the number of restaurants
and other catering establishments and the demand for an improvement
in restaurant hygiene generally called for close
attention to be paid to the storage, preparation and handling
of food in public eating places in the Borough.
Complaints of sanitary defects in houses for the abatement
of which the assistance of the Public Health Department was
sought numbered 8,823. This number causes no surprise when
it is remembered that there are still many houses in the Borough
which can only be described as old and worn out.