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- 2-
The Registrar-General has supplied, for use in Kensington
and Chelsea in 1969, the figures 0.60 for births and 0.97 for deaths.
The crude birth and death rates for the borough should be multiplied by
the appropriate factor, and when so adjusted the results are comparable with
the crude rates for England and Wales or with the corresponding adjusted rates
for any other area.

Infant Death Rate This rate for 1969 was 18 as in
the previous year. The rate for Greater London was 18.6 and for England
and Wales, 18.0.
Maternal Death Rate No maternal deaths were recorded
in 1969. At their present low level little significance can be attached
to maternal death rates except in the general sense.
Infectious Diseases There were no specially noteworthy
cases of infectious disease but the borough shared with other London
boroughs in the widespread prevalence of infections connected with food
that was experienced during the long summer.
Mental Health The drop in the total number of referrals
continued although the total number (1,291) was greater than in 1968
(1,268) but remained lower than in 1967 (1,447). The number of cases
in community care at the end of the year, 787, was the highest reached
so far and was largely attributable to the small number of withdrawals
during the year (189 as against 280 in I968).
I have spent most of my professional life in the Public
Health Service in pursuance of the elementary axiom that Prevention is
better than cure. Over the 40 years many of the diseases have been
successfully prevented or reduced. For example, when I commenced my
local government service in 1929 the deaths from infectious diseases in
England and Wales were as shown in Column 2 of the following Table 1:-