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CAM 54
PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
TOWN HALL,
CAMBERWELL, S.E. 5
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors,
of the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell.
MR. MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS,
I have pleasure in presenting my Annual Report for
1959.
The Registrar General' s Estimate of the population
at midyear showed a further fall from 177,300 to 176,100;
this decline in the population figure has been progressive
since 1952 when the estimate was 181,200, although the
Census figure in 1951 was 179,777. The general death
rate at 11.4 was one point lower than the previous year,
but the infant mortality rate jumped from 21.5 in 1958 to
26.9 last year; there were three maternal deaths giving
a rate of 0.93 per thousand total births. There was a
very considerable reduction in the number of deaths from
tuberculosis which fell to 14 less than half the
previous year's figure, but unfortunately mortality from
cancer of the lung and bronchus continued to rise reaching
a figure of 121 as compared with 104 in 1958. In this
connection it would seem that the campaign against
cigarette smoking is having little influence, in fact,
this habit appears to be on the increase among young
persons, it is reported that 30% of boys and 15% of girls
are now regular smokers.
Notifications of infectious diseases numbered 1, 915
as compared with 1,238 for the previous year. Since,
however, the biennial measles epidemic accounted for
1,322 of these, it will be seen that the total for other
notifiable diseases did not show much variation. There
was, however, a 50% increase in the number of dysentery
notifications. The hot, dry summer of 1959 may possibly
have been a contributory factor, but the best weapon
against this disease is scrupulous cleanliness the
importance of washing the hands before handling food
cannot be over-stressed and a great deal of the Public
Health Department s health education activities has been
devoted to this matter for some considerable time.