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CAN 3388
Public Health Department
Town Hall,
Islington, N.l
TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS
OF THE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF ISLINGTON
The 1962 Annual Report, which I have the honour to present, on the health and
sanitary conditions in the Borough, records a further instalment of the changes which
have taken place over the past few years in community health risks which were once
regarded as traditional It also gives some indications of the major health and
medico-social problems for which answers will no doubt be sought in the 1960s and
perhaps 1970s.
Basic information about population structure is essential for public health
planning. Further details from the 1961 Census are now available and are referred to
in the Vital Statistics Section of this Report. The outstanding feature about the
population distribution throughout the Borough is the high average density in every
single ward. Some wards, of course, are more densely populated than others, but even
in Highbury, the ward with the lowest density figure, the rate approaches a proportion
which is not far short of double the number of persons per acre for the whole County
of London, and in the most densely peopled wards, naaely, Barnsbury and St Peter,
the densities are more than double the London average. It will be appreciated that this
scarcity of spare space must in itself, give rise to many public health problems,,
including of course, housing.
Another feature of the 1961 Census which is of significance in Islington, is the
proportion of immigrants from various parts of the Commonwealth who have taken up
residence in the Borough. The Report returned over 9,000 from Cyprus just under 8,000
from the Caribbean territories, and approximately 1,500 from India and Pakistan.
The 1961 Census also provided some useful details in regard to the housing of the
people. In Islington the percentage of persons occupying accommodation at a proportion
of more than 1& per room is 17.7% as compared with 11½% for the whole County of London.
The Census also throws some statistical light on the distance to be covered before it
can be said that the majority, if not all of Islington residents are living in homes
which are fitted to modern conceptions of sanitary and hygiene requirements Of the
total of 80,000 Islington households 57.4% were returned as being without any kind of
piped hot water supply 45% of households without a fixed bath, whilst another 25% have
to share a bath, and 54% of all households have to share a water closet. There is some
improvement in these figures over the 1951 Census Return but it is not a major
improvement.
Birth rate records continue to be combined with lower still infant mortality figures.
The 1947 bulge figures have again been exceeded, with a total of 5,797 live births and
the infant mortality is a fraction over 19 deaths per thousand live births, the lowest
ever recorded, apart from a most exceptional return in 1954 When such figures are taken
in conjunction with the social and housing circumstances revealed by the Census, something
of the burden which must be placed upon the hospital and domiciliary maternity services
and the child welfare services of the local health authority in conjunction with the
family practitioners, must be apparent There is still no rea&on to believe that the risks
of infant death in the first twelve months cannot be reduced to an even greater extent,
and improvements in housing and environmental conditions generally are bound to make a
positive contribution to this end in the years to come.
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