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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Battersea.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg herewith to present to you the Annual Report on the health
and sanitary conditions of the Borough for the year 1953.
The Report covers all aspects of our work and should be consulted
for details. All I shall do here is to point out one or two matters of
more general interest.
In 1952, the population of Battersea showed a slight decline over
the previous year, and this decline has continued in 1953. The Registrar
General's estimate of the population for the year was 114,800, a
decrease of 1,600 compared with 1952. The live birth rate was
15.49 per thousand of the population, a slight increase over 1952, while
the death rate was 12.84, slightly above that for the previous year
Last year I noted a remarkable drop in the infant mortality rate from
27 in 1951 to 17 in 1952, and I noted that this was the lowest infant
mortality rate ever recorded in Battersea. In 1953 there was a very
slight increase, the rate being 18.56 per thousand live births, a slight
regression over the previous year. This low rate, however, still
compares extremely favourably with that of the County of London and
England and Wales which in 1953 was 24.8 and 26.8 respectively. When
we are thinking in terms of such a comparatively low infant death rate
one or two unavoidable deaths per year might make a big difference
to the rate. Of the total number of infant deaths, slightly over a half
occurred within the first four weeks of life, which again demonstrates
the importance of studying the first four weeks of life in our efforts to
reduce still further the deaths of young infants.
As with last year, infectious diseases did not provide us with any
great problems. There was a small reduction in the number of
notifications, mainly due to a decrease in the number of cases of measles
but this was partly offset by an increase in the number of cases of
whooping cough. 12 confirmed cases of poliomyelitis occurred in
Battersea in 1953, 10 having some form of paralysis. There were no
deaths. Only one case of diphtheria was notified, and this child, who
was not immunized, recovered.
A good deal of attention was again given to the important subject
of food hygiene and the supervision of catering establishments, and
in the latter part of the year, after due consideration, the Health, Baths
and Wash-houses Committee decided that the district Sanitary Inspectors
should be given specific instructions to participate in the day to day
work of safeguarding the Borough's food supplies. This, I am sure,
was a move in the right direction.
Once again, the care and welfare of old people occupied a good
deal of our time, working in close conjunction with both the voluntary
bodies, which are doing such excellent work for the old people, and
with other statutory organisations. This important part of our work
is likely to increase as the age of the population increases.
One of the great social and health problems of the time is
housing of the people. Satisfactory living conditions are as importan