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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Metropolitan Borough
of Lewisham.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I submit herewith my report for the health department for the year
1949.
The Registrar-General's estimate of the population in mid-year
1949 at 227,700 was only 1,600 more than the estimate for the previous
year, compared with an increase of some 5,000 the year before. The
prewar estimate in June, 1939 was 231,000. The birth rate for the year
at 16.8 shows a further drop from the figure for 1947, when it was 21.9,
and for 1948 when it was 18.9. It is still however in excess of what
it was in the prewar years. The death rate went up slightly, from 9.9
to 10.2, but this is still a lower figure (apart from 1948) than for many
years past. However, as pointed out in my previous report, the death
rate is not a good index of health, as there are too many and too complex
factors involved. The infant mortality rate, which in 1948 had fallen
to 28, which was then a record low for the borough, dropped steeply
in 1949 to 19. Compared with the earlier years of the century, when it
was frequently over 100 and once reached 128, the figure now can only
be regarded as remarkable. This figure of 19 compares with 29 for
London as a whole and 32 for England and Wales. The death rate of
illegitimate infants was 21, the difference between this and the legitimate
rate being insignificant. One maternity death occurred during
the year, giving a maternal mortality rate per thousand live and still
births of 0.26, which again creates a low record for the borough. A
table which compares births, maternal deaths, stillbirths, neonatal
deaths and total deaths under one year of age (together with other
statistics) is printed on pp. 16 and 17 (Table 8) and makes an interesting
comparison of the figures in each of the 49 years from 1901.
In connection with the work carried out during the year 1949 special
mention may be made of the following:—
Tuberculosis
The number of new notifications dropped considerably — from
502 to 371, showing a decrease in the notification rate per thousand of
population from 2.22 to 1.63. This was a welcome sign after the
considerable increase in 1948 over previous years, and in fact this is the
lowest rate since 1940, when it was 1.36. The reason for the drop is not
apparent. The death rate from pulmonary tuberculosis once more
decreased, this time from 0.48 to 0.40, and compared with previous
figures this may be regarded as reasonably satisfactory. Tuberculosis
remains the most important of the infectious diseases, and it appeared
from correspondence in the newspapers and articles in the nonmedical
press during the year to be much more in the public mind and on the