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CRAYFORD URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL
To the Chairman and Members of the Urban District Council of
Crayford.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report for the year
1956.
Prom the standpoint of the customary vital statistics, the
health of the Urban District has been well maintained The infant
mortality rate for 1956 was 23 1 per thousand live births compared
with 18.3 per thousand in 1955 and an analysis of the
eleven deaths shows that seven were associated with prematurity
and congenital malformation, over which no significant degree
of control is possible at present
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
*ell 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 Crayford, 91 registered children in the
age group of 2 to 9 years received full inoculation 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.
Tuberculosis is a disease which from a national point of view
is diminishing both in incidence and mortality and, by a combination
of B C G„. vaccination, mass radiography and modern
medical and surgical treatment combined with the close supervision
of infective cases within the community, it is likely
that the risks from this disease could be reduced in the next
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