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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit the Annual Report for the year 1949.
Dr. C. Porter continued to act as Medical Officer of Health until I
commenced duty in June.
General Standard of Health.
The general standard of health of the inhabitants of the Borough
may be regarded as satisfactory. The total number of notifications of
compulsorily notifiable disease did however show an increase as compared
with the previous year, the increase in the main being attributable to
Measles and Whooping Cough. Eleven cases of Acute Poliomyelitis
were notified during the year. No deaths occurred as a result of this
disease.
Vital Statistics.
The Birth Rate for the year is 18.3 per 1,000 estimated population,
that of the previous year being 21.0 and that of the country as a whole
16.7.
The Infantile Mortality Rate is 36.7, the rate for England and Wales
being 32.
The Recorded Death Rate for the Borough is 12.8 per 1,000 estimated
population, that for England and Wales 11.7, the slight increase over the
previous year being attributable to the increase in deaths from diseases
of the circulatory and nervous systems.
Housing.
In collaboration with and at the request of the London County
Council a slum clearance survey was undertaken during the year, under
which details of provisional areas considered suitable to be dealt with
by the respective authorities are set out. Having regard to the acute
housing shortage in Poplar it is essential that expeditious action be taken
to relieve the distress that this shortage is causing within the Borough.
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