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REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR THE YEAR 1908.
To the Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors of the Metropolitan
Borough of Stoke Newington.
Gentlemen,
The vital statistics of the Borough for the year 1908 are of the
usual satisfactory nature. The general death-rate of 12.2 compares
favourably with the rate of 13.8 for the Metropolis as a whole; and
the death-rate from the chief communicable diseases (0.86) is the
lowest since the formation of the Borough.
During the year 1908 the rate of infantile mortality (the number
of deaths under one year of age to every thousand births) amounted
to 98.3. It is the second lowest infantile mortality rate since the
formation of the Borough, but seven other Metropolitan Boroughs
have a lower rate. It is more particularly in the direction of stemming
this wastage of infant lives that increased efforts are called for in Stoke
Newington. To this end seven ladies are giving their voluntary
services to the Borough; but valuable as these services have proved,
they are of necessity limited and at times interrupted; and there is a
real need in the Borough for a salaried female official, who, in addition
to discharging many of the duties of a sanitary inspector, can devote a
part of each day to aiding and directing this voluntary work. The
adoption of the Notification of Births Act (1907) increases the urgency
of this provision; and it is satisfactory to be able to record that such
an official has now been appointed and will commence her duties in
the Borough very shortly.