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4
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Haverstock Hill,
Hampstead, N.W. 3.
21 st April, 1925.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present to you my Annual Report for the
year 1924.
It is brief in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry
of Health, issued on 18th December, 1924, wherein was indicated the
minimum information which should be given.
A summary of the statistics for the year 1924 will be found on
page 5, and, if they are compared with those for the preceding year,
it will be seen that the health of the Borough is maintained at a high
standard, though it is to be regretted that there is a small rise in the
general death-rate and a fall in the birth-rate. This latter appears to
be steadily tending towards the pre-war level.
The infantile mortality rate shows a rise from 42 to 50 per 1,000
births. A glance at the table on page 12 will show that the class of
diseases called congenital diseases—premature birth, debility, marasmus,
etc., accounted for nearly the whole of this rise, there being in this
class 32 deaths as against 18 in the preceding year.
On this point I would like to call attention to the work of the
Maternity and Child Welfare Committee and its Sub-Committee on
Infant Deaths and Maternal Mortality, details of which are given on
pages 37—44. I feel sure that any further reduction in infant
mortality must be arrived at along such lines as are detailed in that
portion of this Report. The first year's work of the Sub-Committee
justifies the belief that these are the right lines on which to proceed.
Whilst studying life tables and statistics, it is always well to keep
in mind the fact that the people are at present living under abnormal
conditions in respect of employment and housing; and it is difficult to
maintain infant welfare at as high a standard as formerly whilst the
home conditions are often such as to mitigate against the success of our
efforts.
My thanks are due to the Council; especially to the Chairmen and
Members of the Public Health, Housing, and Maternity and Child
Welfare Committees, for the help and consideration they have always
afforded me during their terms of office, and I should like to take the
opportunity of expressing my appreciation of the work of the Staff of
the Department during the year under review.
I have the honour to be,
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
FRANK E. SCRASE,
Medical Officer of Health.