View report page

-3-
It is fitting to recollect the valuable work which has been
undertaken by the Councils of the borough since its inception in
1900 and by ray predecessors in office. The name of Professor
Kenwood will long be remembered for his pioneering work in Stoke
Newington, for it was he who laid the foundation upon which our
present personal health services have been built.
This is a time of rapid change and of transfer of functions
from small to large authorities. It must not be forgotten, however,
that the personal health services are personal services and
the new service which comes into operation on July 5th, 1948, must
be organised and administered in such a way that the human touch
of personal service is incorporated therein. Much has been accomplished,
but much remains to be done and although we can view with
satisfaction certain of the results which have been achieved, this
should only be the spur for us to press ahead with other measures
for the improvement of the health of the people.
It is interesting to look back through the annual reports of
my predecessors and observe the gradual evolution of the present
services.
The borough of Stoke Newington was constituted in November
1900 by the combination of the Parish of Stoke Newington with the
Urban District of South Hackney. The population according to the
census of 1901 was 51,247 and the infantile mortality rate 117.9.
Professor Kenwood in his annual report remarks "the lack of intelligent
parental management of the infant in the matter of feeding
and nursing, which is responsible for so much infant mortality is
seen reflected in the number of deaths from diseases of the lungs,
diarrhoea and wasting diseases."
In his report for 1904, Professor Kenwood suggested two
directions in which action should be taken in order to reduce
infantile mortality, one "by requiring all the older school girls
to be educated in the elements of healthy infant rearing and in
the means for securing healthy conditions generally about the
house including cooking and the other by educating the present
mother through the agency of women sanitary inspectors or women
health visitors who are able to influence the mothers in the
direction of proper feeding and care of their children."