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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Battersea.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present to you the Annual Report for the
year 1957 on the Health of the Borough of Battersea. In accordance
with precedent, the report is mainly statistical, with comments as they
appear to be necessary, and as in previous years, in this preface I refer
to one or two matters of particular interest.
I mentioned last year the slight decrease in the population of the
Borough, which had been noticed over the previous two or three years.
and in 1957 this decrease continued. The home population was 111,800
as compared with 112,900 in 1956. The live birth rate, which in 1956
was 15.6, was, in 1957, 16.42, showing a slight increase, while the death
rate in 1957 was 10.89, compared with 10.83 the previous year. The
infant mortality rate in 1957 was 22.33 compared with 23.74 in 1956.
Forty-one deaths of infants under one year compared with 42 in the
previous year were recorded. There were 3 deaths from causes
associated with pregnancy and childbirth, the same as in the previous
year, but as there was a slight increase in the number of births, the rate
is slightly below that of 1956, at 1.59 per 1,000 births.
I have on previous occasions discussed the importance of infant
mortality, particularly the number of infant deaths in the first month
of life, and more particularly in the first week of life. The causes of
death in the first month, and more particularly in the first week, of life
are very complicated. The causes of still-births, and the causes
deaths of infants in the first week of life are closely related, and an
extensive nation-wide investigation has just been started to throw light
on this problem. We are co-operating in this investigation which, it is
hoped, will provide data to enable measures to be taken to reduce the
number of still-births and the number of deaths of infants in the first
week of life.
Infectious diseases showed an increase in the number of notifications
received, as compared with the previous year, this being mainly
due to the increased prevalence of measles; in 1957, 1,402 cases were
notified compared with 274 in 1956. As against this, however, the
number of cases of dysentery, to which I made reference last year
dropped considerably, from 157 to 32, a decrease of 125, and there was
also a reduction in the number of cases of whooping-cough.
Many parts of the country, including parts of London, experienced
a sharp increase in the number of cases of poliomyelitis in 1957. I am
happy to say that Battersea remained comparatively free. Eleven cases
of this disease were notified to this Department, but in two of these
cases the diagnosis was not confirmed, so that we had only 9 confirmed
cases of poliomyelitis, of which three had some residual paralysis. There
was one death recorded due to this disease. In the previous year, there
were 29 cases, with one death.
In the late autumn, Battersea, like most parts of the country, was
swept by "Asian" influenza. It was not possible to ascertain the
exact number of cases which arose, because influenza as such is not a
notifiable disease, but from information we received from schools and