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To the Mayer, Aldermen and Councillors of the Metropolitan Borough of
Lewisham
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I submit my report for the health department for the year 1960.
Vital statistics
The Registrar General's estimate of the population in midyear 1960,
on which the rates in this report are based, was 221,300, an increase of
300 on the previous year's estimate. The preliminary report of the census
of 1961 is already to hand and this shows that the population at the census
was 221,590—a very close agreement with the Registrar General's
estimate. The crude birth rate for 1960 at 16.2 again shows an increase
(it was 15.7 in the previous year). The adjusted birth rate brings this
down slightly to 15.4. The crude death rate at 11.3 is slightly lower than
the 11.8 of the previous year, while the adjusted death rate (allowing
for age and sex distribution of the population) is the same. The infant
mortality rate at 18.9 is fractionally higher than the 18.4 of 1959 but
could still be regarded as satisfactory. The infant mortality rate can be
divided into three parts, the early neonatal rate (under one week of age),
the rest of the neonatal rate (up to one month of age) and the rest of
the first year rate (that is from one month to twelve months). These
rates were respectively 10.9, 2.2 and 5.8. The stillbirth rate at 17.3 was
slightly lower. Although the total male births remains higher than that
of the females (by 53) the greater liability of males to succumb in the
first year of life is very apparent. For the infant mortality rate as a whole
the male rate was 25 as against 12, for the neonatal rate it was 18 as
against 9 and for the early neonatal rate it was 15 as against 6. The
various comparative figures of general statistics since the beginning of
the century are shown in table 11.
Infectious disease other than tuberculosis
The total number of notifications received (including 134 for
tuberculosis) was 1452 which is considerably less than half the number
for the previous year which in itself was just about double that of 1958.
This again reflects the two year periodicity of measles, cases of which
came down from 2,631 to 262. Dysentery cases increased from 233 to
367 and these were mainly from school outbreaks. They were of a
mild type. Food poisoning cases were, at 31, a little below the average,
although it is likely that many such cases are not reported. There were
only 33 notifications of pneumonia, which is the lowest figure for many
years past, indicating perhaps the mild weather and the absence of an
influenza outbreak. There were only two cases of poliomyelitis and it
seems reasonably certain that vaccination has been a considerable
factor here. It is essential that all children and young adults should
for their own wellbeing and for the peace of mind of their relatives be
protected against poliomyelitis. The three or perhaps four injections
tend to put some people off, but injection procedure is still regarded
as the correct one. A vaccine which can be taken by mouth is available
but on the advice of the Ministry this would only be used in an
emergency when there is a relatively severe and localised outbreak.
Consideration is being given to the best method by which a large number
of the population, perhaps up to a hundred thousand, can be given the
oral vaccination in emergency within a matter of days.