View report page

3
To the Mayor, 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 1961.
Vital statistics
The Registrar General's estimate of the population in midyear
1961, on which the rates in this report are based, was 220,910, a decrease
of 390 on the previous year's estimate. The preliminary report of the
census of 1961 showed that the population at the census was 221,590.
The crude birth rate for 1961 at 16.9 again shows an increase (it was
16.2 in the previous year) and was the highest since 1949. The adjusted
birth rate brings this down slightly to 16.3. The crude death rate at
11.7 is slightly higher than the 11.3 of the previous year, while the adjusted
death rate (allowing for age and sex distribution of the population)
is almost the same. The infant mortality rate at 19.8 is higher than the
18.9 of 1960 ; it appears to be stuck around this figure. 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 11.8, 1.8 and 6.2. The
stillbirth rate at 18.9 was also slightly higher. The male infant rates
this year were very little different from the female rates except for
stillbirths. The various comparative figures of this century are shown
in table 10.
Infectious disease other than tuberculosis
The total number of notifications received (including 123 for
tuberculosis) was 4820 which is over three times the number for the previous
year. This again reflects the two-year periodicity of measles,
cases of which went up from 262 to 4278. Dysentery cases dropped
sharply from 367 to 96 and these were mainly from school outbreaks.
They were of a mild type. Food poisoning cases were, at 26, a little
below the average, although it is likely that many such cases are not
reported. There were 62 notifications of pneumonia,"almost double
those of the previous year, indicating the presence of an influenza
outbreak at the beginning of the year. There were no 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 has tended to put some people off, but a vaccine which
can be taken by mouth is now available and therefore there can be no
real excuse at all for parents failing to get their child protected.
Tuberculosis
The number of new notifications again decreased, though slightly.
The total was 123 giving a notification rate of 56 per 100,000 population,
a low record. The death rate from pulmonary tuberculosis increased to
8 per 100,000 population, compared with 9 for the County of London
as a whole.