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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
1950.
The Registrar-General's estimate of the population in midyear
1950 at 228,300 was only 600 more than in the previous year, and this
number also included members of the armed forces stationed in the
area (which it has not done in previous years). I am not aware of the
numbers of the armed forces. The prewar estimate of the total
population, in June, 1939, was 231,000. The birth rate for the year at
15.3 again shows a drop; the figures in 1947 and successive years
being 21.9, 18.9 and 16.8. The death rate shows a slight increase,
from 10.2 to 10.6, and compares with 11.8 for the whole county of
London. The infant mortality rate, which in the previous year dropped
precipitously to 19, last year rose to 26; six out of the seven units of
increase were in respect of the deaths of infants under one month of age
—a rate which has altered very little in the last 30 years. Further
comments on this appear both in the body of the report and in the paragraph
of this introduction headed Maternity and Child Welfare.
Eleven of the infant deaths occurred amongst the 147 illegitimate babies,
which gives the very high illegitimate infant mortality rate of 75.
The stillbirth rate showed a slight further drop this year to 14.7, and
this is quite satisfactory. Two maternal deaths occurred during the
year, giving a maternal mortality rate per thousand live and still births
of 0.57. The various comparative figures since 1901 are shown on
pages 20 and 21 (table 11).
In connection with the work carried out during the year 1950,
special mention may be made of the following:—
Tuberculosis
The number of new notifications increased from 371 to 406, showing
an increase in the notification rate per hundred thousand population
from 163 to 178. This increase is contrary to the national figures, which
show a decrease in the rate from 102 to 99, and underlines the fact that
although there may be possibly some little reason for the delight of the
Ministry of Health when issuing the national figures, tuberculosis
remains, as I have often said in previous annual reports, the most
important infectious disease and one calling for a great deal of national
and local effort. Further details of the work done in the borough will
be found in the body of the report. The number of deaths from
tuberculosis showed a welcome reduction, from 107 to 72.
Last year I stated that the increased public interest in tuberculosis
was a good thing because there was little doubt that more could be done
by early treatment and above all by the protection of the young child
and the susceptible adult to cut down considerably both the rate of