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ANNUAL REPORT
of the
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Bexley.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report for the
year 1956.
From the standpoint of the customary vital statistics,
the health of the Borough has been well maintained. The
infant mortality rate for 1956 was 26.64 per thousand live
births compared with 17.0 per thousand in 1955 and an
analysis of these deaths shows that 22 deaths occurred
during the first month of life (neo-natal deaths) the causes
of which were associated with prematurity and congenital
malformation, over which no significant degree of control
is possible at present. Of the 8 deaths occurring after the
neo-natal period 7 were due to respiratory infections complicated
in 2 cases by congenital defects. The vital statistics
are fully set out on pages 11-19, together with comparisons
for each year in the past decade.
In regard to infectious disease, poliomyelitis constitutes
the main challenge at the present time and little is
known as to the conditions which determine whether any
particular year will experience a heavy or mild incidence.
In the present state of knowledge, the most direct way of
eliminating cases or, alternatively, of preventing serious
paralysis, is the vaccination of as many individuals as possible,
and it must be borne in mind that, although children
must be given priority, all age groups in the population
are susceptible and vaccination may well have to be
extended to adults as well. This, obviously, would introduce
problems of the supply of vaccine and, also, of medical
and nursing manpower to cope with the large scale of operations
required. In Bexley, 578 registered children in the
age group of 2 to 9 years were inoculated during 1956 under
arrangements made by the Local Health Authority. These
facilities are now being extended to include children between
the ages of one and two years.
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