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London County Council 1934

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]

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London County Council
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1934
VOL. III—(Part I)
REPORT OF THE COUNTY MEDICAL OFFICER FOR THE YEAR 1934
By Sir Frederick Menzies, K.B.E., M.D., LL.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.S.E., County
Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer.
Introduction.
This report deals with the year 1934, and is produced in the midst of the celebrations
of His Majesty's Jubilee. It is fitting, therefore, to give a short account
of the development during the last 25 years of some of the more important of the
public health services administered by the Council. It is of interest to discuss the
trend of vital statistics during that period, the action taken towards the abolition of
slums, and the inception and growth of such schemes as those for the prevention and
treatment of venereal disease and tuberculosis, the action taken under the Mental
Deficiency and Blind Persons Acts, the gradual improvement in the standard of
work of midwives, and the development in the work of the chemical and bacteriological
laboratories.
The trend of public health statistics during the past 25 years, of which the
main features are shown on the diagram on page 13, is of interest as reflecting
the changes in the social and economic conditions of the London community, the
effects of the World War of 1914-18, and the various improvements in public health
administration during the period.
Vital
Statistics.

The changes can roughly be measured by the following table:—

Rates per 1,000.1910.1934.Percentage increase+ decrease-
Birth-rate25.513.4-47.5
Marriage-rate17.320.5+18.5
Death-rate13.712.2-10.9
Infant mortality103.067.0-35.0
Tuberculosis death-rate1.630.87-46.6
Pulmonary tuberculosis1.240.76-38.7
Other „0.390.11-71.8
Enteric fever death-rate0.0430.003-93.0

It will be seen that the birth-rate has decreased by 47.5 per cent. The rate of
decrease was accelerated during the War, a minimum rate of 16.0 being attained in
1918, but after the armistice it rapidly increased to a maximum of 26.4 in 1920,
since when there has been a steady drop.
The marriage-rate has increased over the period by 18.5 per cent. Already
increasing before the War there was a marked rise in the first year of hostilities, the
maximum of 25.9 being attained in 1915. Thereafter a slump occurred as the
manhood of the nation took its place in the fighting line, the minimum of 17.5
being reached in 1917. After demobilisation, a rapid rise took place, the peak, 22.1,
being attained in 1919. This was followed by a corresponding drop in the early
post-war years. After 1926 the improvement in the economic situation caused
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