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CAN on bury 3388
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Islington. N.1.
TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS
OP THE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OP ISLINGTON
I have the honour to present the Annual Report for 1960 on the health of the population
of the Metropolitan Borough of Islington. The Report includes mention of a variety of changes
in a direction favourable to the public health and indicates some of the fields where there
is little or no cause for satisfaction in the existing state.
The birth-rate continues to increase and it is now one of the highest local rates in
London, having almost reached the level of the post-war peak year in 1947 the 1960 birth-rate
represented a total of over 5,000 new arrivals during the year. The increase in the birth-rate
over the last few years, which may well continue for some time, obviously raises important
problems of production, housing, schooling, etc., for which planning is required for many years
phead.
Anotherrecord low figure for deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis (which was once a major
'killer' disease) was again recorded, but unfortunately there was little change in the
notification of new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis which indicates that there must still be a
good deal of residual infection in the population It therefore appears that pulmonary
tuberculosis (of which there are some 2,700 cases in the health records of the Borough) is
likely to remain a major medico-social problem for several years to come at least
Malignant disease of the lung and bronchus, working in the contrary direction to tuberculosis,
has continued to increase and deaths have established a new high record in the Borough With so
much well-based evidence of the ill-effects of smoking upon health (and not only in relation to
promoting lung cancer), it is difficult to understand why commercial publicity through the press,
public hoardings and television is permitted the full liberty to encourage young people in
particular to take up this habit which may produce ill-health of a dangerous character especially
from middle-age onwards.
Having regard to the adverse social conditions in which many people in Islington live, the
low infant mortality rate must be regarded as a tribute to the efficiency of the medical and
welfare services on the one hand and the good standard of mothercraft on the other. This is not
to say, however, that there is not considerable room for further improvement in the prevention
of the ill-health which still occurs in infants and young children.
Accident prevention in the home and on the road is another field where much preventive work
remains to be done to save human life and to avert injuries which may be long-term or even
permanent.
In regard to the incidence of the various infectious diseases there were no exceptional
peaks in 1960. although there was a substantial rise in the number of whooping cough cases over the
previous two years. After the unfortunate experience of Islington in the 1959 poliomyelitis
outbreak, there was a small number of cases only in 1960 and not above the general average
There was not a single confirmed case of diphtheria, which event has happened only once before,
in 1952 There was a small increase in the dysentery cases, mainly in all children under 15 years;
and there were two moderate-sized outbreaks of food poisoning which are dealt with in the body
of the report.