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REPORT
of the Medical Officer of Health
for the year 1953
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg herewith to present to you the Annual Report on the health
and sanitary conditions of the Borough for the year 1953. The report
covers all aspects of our work and should be consulted for details.
What I shall do here is to point out one or two matters of more
general interest.
The slight reduction in the population which I noted last year
continued in 1953, being 331,000 as compared with 331,700 in 1952.
The live birth rate was 13.54, a slight increase over the previous
year; while the death rate was 14.86, which was an increase of 2 over
1952—the possible reason for this is mentioned in the body of the
report. The infant mortality rate was 23, which was three points
above the figure recorded in the previous year. This is below that
for the County of London and England and Wales, which in 1953
was 24.8 and 26.8 respectively. While this figure is below the
average, it is one which should be reduced even further. The
number of deaths from causes associated with child birth was two,
a reduction of one over 1952.
There was a slight increase in the number of infectious diseases
notified, due to an increased prevalence of measles and especially of
whooping cough. The number of cases of tuberculosis, in all its
forms, remained almost the same. There were 27 confirmed cases
of poliomyelitis and of these 19 were of the paralytic type—unfortunately
two of the paralytic cases died. In the previous year there
were five deaths from this disease. There were 132 cases of dysentery
notified, compared with 230 cases in the previous year. We have
continued our special efforts in the investigation and control of this
somewhat troublesome, but, fortunately, not severe disease.