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THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
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 1962 which has been
prepared on the lines set out in Circular 1/63 of the Ministry of Health.
The Registrar General's estimate of the mid-year population is 31,980
(31,290 in 1961).
The vital statistics supplied annually by the General Register Office
indicate that the general trend of the health of the District remained satisfactory.
The standardised death rate, which allows of comparisons with other
areas, was 10.77 per 1,000 of the home population (10.58 in 1961) compared with
11.9 for England and Wales. The standardised birth rate was 15.81 per 1,000 home
population (17.18 in 1961) compared with a rate of 18.0 for the country as a whole.
The number of infants who died during the first year of life was 11 (13 in 1961)
giving an infant mortality rate of 20.44 per 1,000 live births (22.73 in 1961)
compared with 21.6 per 1,000 for England and Wales.
For the second successive year there was no maternal death associated with
childbirth. Considering that during the past two years there were 1,110 births
in the District it may be said that the antenatal and obstetric services in the
area have worked to a high standard of efficiency. The stillbirth rate per 1,000
total (live and still) births was 7.38 (compared to 10.38, 7.55, 11.95 and 18.1
in the previous four years).
The number of illegitimate births rose to 22 compared with 17, 15, 11, 15,
15, 11, 19, 16 and 11 in the previous nine years.
Deaths from cancer of the lung numbered 12 (14 in 1961).
For the thirteenth year in succession there was no case of diphtheria in the
District and no case of poliomyelitis in the year under review.
The years 1961 and 1962 will be remembered for the fact that on five separate
occasions during this period smallpox was brought into this country by air
travellers from Karachi resulting in 62 cases in England and Wales of which 24
proved fatal. Although there was no real threat to the District an indirect
effect of these cases was the overwhelming public demand for vaccination. The
occurrence of a single case of smallpox in Woolwich in January, 1962, caused a
local agitation for vaccination clinics to be opened but this was successfully
resisted. Nevertheless many hundreds of people in the District received
vaccination through their family doctors and many cases of vaccinia occurred
some of which simulated smallpox and raised difficult problems of diagnosis. I
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