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1
Public Health Department,
Town Hall, N.l.
To The Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Islington.
In presenting my Eleventh Annual Report on the health of the Metropolitan
Borough of Islington for the year ended 31st December, 1951, it is pleasing to be
able to record the points at which there has been progress in the public health during
the year, and to note the new measures which have come into effect and will
contribute to the gradual raising of public health standards.
Advances in public health and preventive medicine are not usually spectacular
but a review of vital statistics, to take only one aspect, even over a period of a
relatively few years, as embodied in the pages of this and previous Annual Reports,
will show changes which have beneficially affected the people of Islington to a very
substantial degree.
Among the most striking improvements in the past few years has been the fall
in the infant mortality rate for infants under the age of one year, which is now less
than half the pre-war rate, but there are still some young children who die
unnecessarily and whose lives might be saved to the benefit of the community. It
was commonly said at one time that to save infant lives would mean an increase in
the number of sick and weakly children who survived, but we now know that the
reverse is true. Experience has shown that all those measures which have contributed
to the saving of infant life have also benefited the health of the infants who survived
the hazards of the first year. The outlook for the mother has also improved
dramatically and the change in the maternal death rate will show how very much
safer motherhood has now become, even during the last ten years.
The public has come to fear infectious diseases much less than formerly.
Diphtheria is now relatively rare, but it will be seen from this report that few as
have been the diphtheria cases, nevertheless Islington appears to have had a little
more than its proportionate share and that, even one or two deaths from diphtheria a
year are unnecessary and avoidable. Diphtheria immunisation for the protection of
young children is still a very necessary precaution to be taken by all parents.
Deaths from tuberculosis of the lungs are decreasing rapidly and new cases of
lung tuberculosis have begun to decrease. This has created, no doubt only
temporarily, a somewhat contradictory situation since lengthening the life of the
tuberculous person may for the time being help to increase the numbers of tuberculous
persons circulating in the community. Precautions must therefore be taken to
diminish the risks arising from this, and not least among these precautions is the
responsibility of the tuberculous sufferers themselves in the personal care they
take not to pass on their infection to others. There is also responsibility on all
adult members of the public, particularly parents and even grandparents, to
ensure that they do not neglect obtaining medical attention for such symptoms
as chronic cough, and that they take full advantage of examination by Mass X-ray
Units, if they are fortunate enough to have such a Unit available in the district for
long or short periods,