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1
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
N.l.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Islington.
I have the honour to present the Annual Report of the Metropolitan Borough of
Islington for the year ended 31st December, 1949, in the abridged form required by
the Ministry of Health.
The vital statistics for this year continue to show many very satisfactory features.
The post-war fall in the infant mortality rate, which was temporarily interrupted
in 1948, was continued in 1949, and the remarkably low rate of 27 infant deaths per
1,000 live births was returned. This figure is lower than the average for the County
of London and also below the rate for England and Wales. Although other areas,
including some Metropolitan Boroughs, may show even more favourable results,
nevertheless it must be recorded that the improvement in the chances of infant
survival to this extent is a remarkable achievement in the light of unfavourable
housing with all that this implies, and the working-class composition of the greater
part of the population of Islington. The main causes of infant deaths are set out in
more detail in the section on vital statistics.
As mentioned in my last report, diphtheria is becoming rare, although there
were two deaths in children who had not been immunised. Measles rose to epidemic
proportions in 1949 with a very high incidence, although, fortunately, the severity
of attack appears to be decreasing. The two principal unfavourable features of
1949, so far as infectious diseases are concerned, were Poliomyelitis and Pulmonary
Tuberculosis. Poliomyelitis was more prevalent in Islington in 1949 than in the
previous highest recorded outbreak in 1947, but the proportion of cases which ended
fatally was, fortunately very small and there was a higher proportion of cases with
either no paralysis at all or mild symptoms which cleared fairly rapidly. Pulmonary
Tuberculosis continues to be a most difficult problem and there was a slight increase
in the notification rate of new cases although the death rate is still falling. It is
still not possible for a case of Pulmonary Tuberculosis to be admitted to hospital or
sanatorium as speedily as is desirable.
Reference is also made in the body of the report to some aspects of the care of
elderly persons for whom the officers of the Public Health Department undertook
much action on an unofficial basis in association with statutory bodies and voluntary
organisations.
With regard to food hygiene, special consideration was given to certain premises
manufacturing ice cream where the products could not be considered altogether
reliable. It is not always easy to detect the precise stage at which contamination
may take place, and it may be necessary to sample at all stages of manufacture and
to spend a good deal of time on one particular case.
The free washing facilities which the Council have approved in particular,
although not exclusively, for the benefit of street food traders, have been much
appreciated and substantially used.