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8
Town Hall,
Greenwich, S.E.10.
June, 1947.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to submit herewith, as Medical Officer of Health, the
Annual Report for 1946.
This is the first complete post-war year, and, as such, lends
itself for comparison. Accordingly, a table is included in the
Appendix to this report, setting out selected vital statistics for 1901
(the first year of the Council's era), 1938, the war years, and the year
under review.
It is pleasing to record that, in general, the health of the people
of Greenwich, notwithstanding trying experiences, is satisfactory,
and indeed, by comparison, the position is encouraging.
For many years there has been a gradual decline in the National
birth-rate, ascribed to manifold causes. Wherever the truth lies,
the definite decline is reflected locally in the difference between a
figure of just below 30 per 1,000 population in 1901 and 13.6 in 1938.
An upward trend is noticed for the war years when population movement
factors affect the validity of conclusions, but there is no doubt
at all as to the gratifying figure of 22.6 per 1,000 for 1946. Social
Welfare in its widest sense will be needed to foster this trend so that
it may not be recorded at some future date as just a biological
reflection in the population of the change from war to peace.
Infantile mortality rates are tabled of 130 for 1901, 42 in 1938,
and 34 in 1946. Gradual improvement from the " good old days,"
due to social enlightenment, was accelerated by the adoption and
far-sighted development of welfare schemes in the inter-war years.
As a result, the local return of a rate of 42 for 1938 was hailed with
justifiable acclamation as a " lowest ever." As the National rate
of 43 for the year under review is the lowest ever recorded, it is
indeed satisfying to put before you a rate of 34 for Greenwich, which,
except for the " evacuation " years of 1941 and 1942, is another
"lowest ever." This figure reflects the greatest credit on the
effect of the Council's scheme, in view of the adverse factors of overcrowding
and difficult housing met with. No praise can be too high
for the Medical Practitioners, Health Visitors, and Social Workers
generally, the cumulative effect of whose services in the Borough it