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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Battersea.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in presenting to you the Annual Report on the
health and sanitary conditions of the Borough of Battersea for the year
1963, which follows the usual form of previous reports.
The decline in population continued, for in 1963 the Registrar
General's mid-year estimate of the population of Battersea was 102,940,
against 104,020 for 1962.
The live birth rate was very slightly increased to 20.87 per thousand
the population as against 20.81 for 1962, being based on a total of
2,361 live births. The rate for England and Wales as a whole was 18.2
and for London 20.1.
The death rate increased in 1963 from 11.90 to 12.76 per thousand
the population, although the number of deaths attributed to Battersea
was reduced from 1,345 to 1,288 in 1963, the increase in the rate being
due to the reduction in population. The corresponding rates for England
and Wales and London were 12.2 and 12.4 respectively.
The number of deaths of children under the age of one year was
47 as against 45 in 1962, but owing to the increased number of live births,
here was a reduction in the infant mortality rate to 19.91 per thousand
live births in 1963 as against 20.59 in 1962. There was, as in the previous
year, one death due to puerperal causes giving a maternal mortality rate
of 0.42 per thousand live births.
The incidence of infectious diseases did not present any particularly
°table features except for the expected increase in the number of
measles cases, since 1963 was a measles year. There were in fact 703
cases of measles notified as against 165 in 1962. For the second year in
succession, no cases of poliomyelitis occurred in the Borough, nor were
there any cases of smallpox, but a number of indirect contacts arriving
from endemic areas, who were not in possession of valid certificates of
vaccination, were kept under surveillance.
In 1962 there was a very low incidence of whooping cough. In the
current year 105 cases were notified but many of these were mild cases
where the diagnosis might well have been in doubt because the widespread
use of immunisation against whooping cough can sometimes
make diagnosis difficult. There were no deaths from whooping cough
or from measles. There was a reduction in the number of dysentery
cases notified, namely 30 as against 94 in 1962.
It is very satisfying to report a considerable reduction both in the
number of notification and in the number of deaths from pulmonary
During 1963 46 cases of tuberculosis (all forms) were
notified in Battersea as against 75 in 1962 and 63 in 1961. In addition
40 cases as against 49 were reported or otherwise came to the notice of
the Health Department, making a total of 88 cases of which we became
aware in 1963 as compared with 124 in the previous year. At the end
of the year there were 841 as against 947 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis
on the Tuberculosis Register.