View report page

4
monest form of malnutrition takes the shape of obesity—a condition
aggravated by the lack of exercise which the motor-car in
particular encourages, aided and abetted all too frequently by the
high calorie content of alcohol. Overweight undoubtedly predisposes
to coronary heart disease—responsible in 1971 for not far
short of one thousand deaths in Wandsworth—as does cigarette
smoking. The latter hazard was highlighted afresh by the publication
in January of the Second Report of the Royal College of
Physicians on Smoking and Health. Far too many careers are cut
short in the prime of life by cardiovascular disease, cancer of the
lung and chronic bronchitis precipitated by the lethal fumes of the
tobacco leaf. Far too many families are both deprived and disorganized
by such totally unnecessary premature bereavement. Certainly
the local mortality statistics in relation to heart disease give no
cause for optimism, the number of deaths remaining almost
stationary ; on the other hand lung cancer deaths again fell—240
compared with 259 in the previous year—offering a crumb of
comfort which may yet prove to be illusory. Beyond doubt only
a greater sense of personal responsibility for health can effect a
significant and lasting improvement. Perhaps a new television
series entitled "Your Life in Your Own Hands" is needed to
provide the stimulus to individual action on an appropriate scale.
The patent need for self-discipline and personal initiative in the
cause of better health is equally evident in the sphere of communicable
disease control. With the decline in the incidence of measles,
thanks to the introduction of an effective vaccine, the commonest
serious infection at the present time in this country is gonorrhoea.
Indeed venereal disease has now assumed epidemic proportions on
a global scale. This is particularly true of the great cities and the
position locally is typical of that of London as a whole—in Wandsworth
the number of local residents attending special treatment
clinics rising from 4,200 in the previous year to 5,170, as many as
817 of these being found to have acquired a gonococcal infection
compared with 755 in 1970. No one concerned with the quality of
family life can look upon the steadily rising incidence of the sexually
transmitted infections with equanimity. In sharp contrast to this
melancholy upward trend the number of cases of notifiable infectious
disease reported in the Borough fell markedly in 1971, only
1,207 notifications being received as opposed to 1,891 in the previous
year. Happily, instead of the customary biennial upsurge anticipated,
the number of cases of measles notified fell from 1,090 to 559
and sharp reductions were also recorded in the notifications of
dysentery, infective hepatitis and whooping cough. Only one acute
episode of note was recorded, namely a small outbreak late in the
year of viral gastro-enteritis (popularly known as winter vomiting)
which affected 58 children and 5 teachers at a junior and infants
school. The reporting of nearly sixty cases of food poisoning underlined
the importance of wholesome food and hygienic handling;
similarly the two notifications of paratyphoid fever and three of
malaria served as a reminder of the need to take well-recognised