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Public Health Department,
33-35, Lancaster Grove,
Hampstead, N.W.3.
25th June, 1951.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in submitting to you the Annual Report on the
health of the residents of Hampstead for the year 1950.
It was only during the last four months of the year that I was your
Medical Officer of Health. Prior to this, Dr. H. Leslie Oldershaw had
been responsible for the work of the Department. I would like
immediately to express my gratitude to the Council for its welcome
and to Dr. Oldershaw for facilitating my work by his very careful
explanation of the activities of the Department. It has been very
gratifying since my appointment to work in harmony with him as
Divisional Medical Officer and to be associated with a colleague and
friend of so many years' standing.
During the course of the year the population has increased by 310
and has now reached the total of 97,400. This is the Registrar General's
estimate for the middle of the year, 1950. A more accurate figure will
be available later when the results of the 1951 Census are available.
I would call attention to the fact that the Infantile Mortality Rate
was 19, the total number of children under 1 year that died being 28.
The graph on page 4 shows the Infantile Mortality Rate in Hampstead
since 1900.
Infantile mortality is considered to be an index of the general health
of a community. Where sanitary circumstances are bad, food unsatisfactory,
and social amenities few, it will be found that the infantile
mortality is high. The control of health in infancy and childhood
depends not only on the personal health services available to children
but the environmental conditions under which they live.
It has been suggested that a low infantile mortality means that a
large number of unfit and weakly children who would otherwise die
are saved only to live with impaired health and to die young. This is
based on the argument that a high infantile mortality secures the survival
of the fittest. This argument is wrong. When there is a high mortality
rate among infants there is also a high rate of sickness. The weakly
may die and the strong survive with impaired health. A low infantile
mortality rate means a low infantile morbidity rate and it usually
indicates that the circumstances of living in a particular area for all
classes of the community are improving. If this be so, then the figure
of 19 deaths per 1,000 births in the Borough of Hampstead, the lowest
figure that has been recorded in the Borough, is an indication which can
be accepted as a general improvement in the health of the Borough
as a whole.
This leaves, however, no room for complacency, for if we turn to
the other end of the scale we find that there is a crying need to help the
older residents of the Borough. Tribute should be paid to the excellent
work which is being carried out by the voluntary associations. The
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