View report page

To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of
Dagenham.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in submitting this report on the health of the
people of Dagenham in 1956.
The population of the area has remained fairly constant for
the last few years. The estimated mid-year population for 1956 is
115,100.
The birth rate showed a slight increase from 12.98 in 1955 to
13.77 per 1,000 in 1956 and the death rate also increased from 6.83
to 7.25 during the same period.
The infant mortality rate of 20.87 compared very favourably
with the provisional figure for England and Wales of 23.7.
The number of deaths under 1 year was 33 and from a study
of Table III in the body of the report it will be seen that almost
one-third were attributed to prematurity.
Further investigation into the cause of deaths from prematurity
and still birth may well be of assistance in still further lowering
the infant death rate.
During the year an outbreak of Paratyphoid Fever resulting
in over 40 cases was investigated and steps were taken to tighten
up the food hygiene in a food establishment to guard against the
risk of a recurrence.
There were no deaths from Diphtheria and out of a total of
13 cases of Poliomyelitis reported, only 4 were paralytic.
Vaccination against Poliomyelitis was introduced and talks
were given and discussions were held to give the public the
opportunity to ask any questions they wished.
The national upward trend for hospital confinement has been
reflected in the domiciliary midwifery services of the area and it
will be interesting to see whether this trend continues as a result
of the report of the Cranbrook Committee which is now sitting to
consider the maternity services in England and Wales.
I mentioned in the report for 1955 that I hoped to be able to
report further progress in Health Education at the end of 1956.
A special section of this report is devoted to some of the
activities in this field and I anticipate that further developments
will take place.
The illustrations appearing this year show some aspects of the
work and there is included a photograph of a discussion between
the Dagenham Public Health Inspectors and a student from
Singapore who attended weekly as part of her training course
with The Central Council for Health Education for discussions
and demonstrations on health topics.
9