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Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Camberwell, S.E.5.
August, 1951.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell.
Your Worship, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I submit herewith my report on the Health of the Borough
in 1950, which has been prepared on the lines requested by the
Ministry of Health in Circular 112/50, dated the 6th December,
1950.
The Registrar-General's estimate of the population at the
middle of the year is 590 more than the estimate for mid-1949.
The birth rate of 16·2 shows a further decline from the figure for
1949. The general death rate of 11·3 per 1,000 of the population
shows a decrease of six points on the previous year. The
infantile mortality rate of 27 per 1,000 live births is not as low
as in 1949.
There has been no serious epidemic of infectious disease,
notifications of which numbered 2,618. Of these, measles was
responsible for 1,441, whooping cough 706 and scarlet fever
206. Fortunately, these types of diseases are mild in character.
The tuberculosis problem remains with us although there was a
considerable fall in the number of primary notifications and
deaths from this cause, which amounted to 325 and 64
respectively. It is generally agreed that notifications are not
always an accurate reflection of the incidence of tuberculosis,
and that mortality figures are regarded as the most valuable
criterion of the trend of this disease. A report of the British
Medical Association Group Committee issued during the year
under review submits various proposals but it is doubtful
whether it contains a solution to this scourge.
The existing arrangements for the prevention of tuberculosis
cannot be regarded as an improvement on the service provided
by the Local Sanitary Authority previous to the operation of
the National Health Service Act of 1946. There is urgent need
for a complete revision of our tuberculosis administration from
the point of view of placing both the curative and preventive
aspects under the control of one authority. It must not be
forgotten that a person suffering from tuberculosis is not merely
a case of infectious disease. His way of life and that of his
family is affected for many years if not for a lifetime.