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Public Health Department,
98a, Avenue Road,
Hampstead, N.W.3.
9th May, 1957.
TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS
OF THE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF HAMPSTEAD.
Mr. Mayor, Ladles and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present the Annual Report on the
health and sanitary circumstances of the Borough of Hampstead
during the year 1956.
The report which follows sets out those figures of
births, deaths and cases of notifiable infectious disease which
attempt to express mathematically the state of the health of
the residents of the Borough. The report also gives a summary
of the work of the Public Health Department during the year,
also largely reduced to figures. This method is convenient
because it allows of easy comparison with previous years and
with other districts, but it is necessarily incomplete and the
effect or otherwise of the work of the Department on the health
of the people cannot readily be shown.
One reason for this is that public health measures
frequently show their effects only after a long period. A child
brought up in good surroundings is likely to live longer and he
may figure in the death returns after a period of say 70 years
instead of 40 or 50 years.
Another reason is that the improved standards of living
have had a major effect on the health of the people. There can
be little doubt that improved housing has played a greater part
in raising the standard of health than any single public health
measure. Adequate food, clothing, medical services, etc. which
we enjoy in this country have raised our standard of health far
above those of less fortunate countries. Not all aspects of a
better standard of living, however, necessarily improve health.
Diet during the period of rationing was well balanced as was
evident from the health of the children; the present freedom for
individual choice and the greater quantity and variety of food
does not necessarily mean that everyone has a better diet from a
physiological point of view. The increased number of motor cars