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services, better housing conditions and, again, better chemical and antibiotic
control of the puerperal infections.
The birth rate in 1946 was 22 per 1,000 of the population (18.8 and 23.1
in the previous two years) and fell steadily until about 1956 when an upward
trend became noticeable. The rate for 1963 was 18.73 compared with 13.9 per
1,000 in 1951. The Department for Education and Science's, 'Statistics of Education',
1963 (H.M.S.O.) show that the post-war 'bulge' now passing out of the
secondary schools is but the forerunner of bigger bulges to come which are bound
to have important social, industrial and educational implications for the future.
The death rate, on the other hand, has remained almost unchanged over the
past 18 years and more. The fall in the death rate in the country as a whole
began around 1875 and was due to improvements in the adverse environmental conditions
which the process of urbanisation had brought to bear on the community
not merely in regard to sanitation but housing, overcrowding, nutrition, hours
of work and factory conditions. The tuberculosis death rate also began to fall
about the same time and has continued unabated to the present day. Improved
standards of living and medical discoveries have combined to bring this about
and to raise the general expectation of life of the population.
Why then has the death rate not continued to fall? The answer is twofold.
Firstly with an ageing population more people may be expected to die for there
is a limit to which life can be prolonged and, secondly, deaths from certain
causes have increased over the past quarter of a century, notably, cancer of the
lung, cardio-vascular disease, including coronary disease and accidents both on
the roads and in the home. The causes of these epidemics, for this is what they
really are, are so complex and interwoven in the fabric of our Society that there
can be no easy way to their prevention. The highly competitive nature of life
today, the pursuit of ever-increasing standards of living, automation, and the
advances of science and technology, good in many respects, unfortunately bring
with them new hazards to human health and happiness e.g. radio-active contamination,
atmospheric pollution, noise, sophistication of our food supplies, speed
and a materialistic outlook which is not conducive to the mental health of the
population.
In 1950, the first year in which separate figures became available for cancer
of the lung, the number of deaths from this cause was 3 compared with 12 in 1962
and 16 in 1963. The number of deaths ascribed to coronary disease similarly rose
from 6 in 1950 to 51 in 1962 and 51 in 1963.
During the period 28th October to 1st November, 1963, a Smoking and Health
Campaign was held in conjunction with Bexley and Erith. The spearhead of this
was a five day visit to the area of the Central Council for Health Education
mobile unit which visited a number of secondary schools and a Youth organisation.
Films were shown at those schools not actually visited by the Unit. Ten thousand
copies of a personal letter addressed to parents by the Medical Officer of Health
were distributed throughout the schools and a large number of leaflets and posters
were made available in the area.
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