View report page

3
COUNTY BOROUGH OF CROYDON.
ANNUAL REPORT
of the
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
and
SCHOOL MEDICAL OFFICER.
For the Year 1923.
I beg to submit to the Council my report on the health and
sanitary circumstances of the Borough during the year 1923.
The Council lost the services of Dr. Veitch Clark at the end
of 1922, and Dr. Kerr Simpson was Acting Medical Officer of
Health until June, 1923, when I had the privilege of commencing
my duties.
The year was an exceptionally healthy one; both the general
death rate and the infant mortality were the lowest ever recorded
in the Borough, and the prevalence of the acute infectious diseases
was much below the normal.
The birth-rate has continued to drop, and was lower in 1923
than in any year since 1919.
The report here submitted cannot be more than a brief survey and
summary of the activities connected with various aspects of Public
Health work in Croydon. Attention should perhaps be drawn to
an analysis, set out in the section dealing with maternity and child
welfare showing the changes which have occurred over a period of
years in the relative importance of various factors influencing the
mortality in infancy and childhood.
H. P. NEWSHOLME,
Medical Officer of Health.
April, 1924.