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HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
227/233 Commercial Road,
E.l.
TO: The Mayor. Aldermen and Councillors
of The London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I present the Annual Report on the health of the Borough for 1968
COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
A campaign for vaccination against measles was initiated on a national scale in the
mid-year. A reasonable response from the recommended age group of 1 year ensued in the area
By the end of the year there was some evidence of a reduction over the expected notification
rate for a "measles' year.
With the threatened extension of Asiatic influenza to this country at the latter part of
the year, key personnel in the Council's employ in touch with the public, and the staff of
residential homes, were offered and largely accepted vaccination against the new mutant strain.
Fortunately, the forecast of a large outbreak did not materialise
Tuberculosis notifications showed little change over the year at rates of 0.53 per 1,000
for pulmonary, and 0,098 per 1000 for non-pulmonary cases However, the death rate for cancer
of the lung in the borough is now about one per thousand of the population A total of 190,
comprising 160 males and 30 females died from this disease in 1968. an increase again on last
year's total
HOUSING
In 1964-65 it was estimated that there were approximately 13,800 properties, in the
constituent boroughs, to be dealt with as 'Unfit' Considerable progress has been made in the
intervening five years, including almost four years as the new borough of Tower Hamlets The
backlog of 3 500 of the 1960-65 quinquennium has been dealt with, and another 6,300 are being
dealt with in the 1965-70 programme Additional tenement blocks have been included too It is
estimated that about a further 4,000 unfit properties can be incorporated in the 1970-75 programme
After this the bulk of slum property will have been covered for representation Thus a total
of 9,000 properties, up to and inclusive of the current quinquennial programme, will have
been declared/represented within a six year period in the combined Greater London Council
and Tower Hamlets housing programmes If confirmation, clearance, and redevelopment proceed
apace the demise of all large areas of unfit properties within the borough is in sight in the
very near future.
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