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6
Public Health Department,
Town Hall, S.E.10
July, 1951
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors,
Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is the Jubilee Year of our Borough and it is, therefore, all
the more pleasing for me to be privileged to present this account of
the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich for 1950.
It has been a year of steady, if unspectacular, progress. The
population has increased and is now almost 90,000. Births have
fallen slightly and the death rate is less than last year. Both
compare favourably with the national rates.
Following the infantile mortality rate of last year, which was
almost the lowest in the country, it is not surprising that the rate
has increased slightly from 24 to 26.7 but this figure is sufficiently
low to afford satisfaction.
The total number of infectious diseases notified increased from
1,335 to 1,644. This increase was due mainly to Measles and Whooping
Cough reaching much higher levels than last year. There seems
to be a biennial increase in incidence in these diseases. In 1948 and
1946 the figures were comparably high. One outstanding feature
is worthy of mention. Diphtheria for all practical purposes has
been eradicated from the Borough, since only one case, which
made an uneventful recovery, was notified during the year. When
one considers that in 1922 there were 707 cases with 42 deaths and
in 1935, 367 cases with 3 deaths, the magnitude of the achievement
can be understood. Almost all the credit must be attributed to the
intensive Diphtheria immunisation campaign which was sponsored
by the Ministry of Health during the war years and implemented
very fully by the local Health Department. There should be no
slackening in our efforts in this direction.
There are as yet no signs that Pulmonary Tuberculosis is less
prevalent in the Borough. There were 126 new cases compared
with 117 last year and 44 deaths were reported from Tuberculosis
of all types.
Despite the strenuous and commendable efforts of the Chest
Clinic supervising the treatment of cases and the welfare of contacts,
we are not by any means on top of this problem. The highest
priority is afforded to tuberculous families for rehousing in this