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Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Friern Barnet,
Middlesex.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my Annual
Report for the year 1958.
The year under review was once more
uneventful. No epidemics or outbreaks of infectious
diseases occurred. The matter of infectious diseases
will, of course, be discussed in greater detail in the
section of the report which deals with prevalence and
control.
The vital statistics were also satisfactory.
The birth rate rose very slightly, from 11.2 in 1957 to
11.5 in 1958. The death rate, apart from those deaths
which occurred in Friern Hospital, rose slightly, from
9.5 to 10.4. It is once again very pleasing to be able
to report that no maternal death has been recorded in
Friern Barnet within the past 12 years, during which
period 4,340 births have taken place. The Infant
Mortality Rate, i.e. the number of infants dying under
one year per thousand live births, was 12.2 representing
four infant deaths.
The pattern of Public Health in Friern
Barnet has not altered materially during recent years.
The point of emphasis may vary from year to year, as one
or another phase of preventive medicine predominates.
But on the whole, the picture has remained more or less
the same. Fortunately, it is a happy one, free from
garish highlights or arresting questionable shadows.
The important questions of the demolition
of unfit houses and clean air - both of supreme importance
in promoting health - are dealt with in the body of the
report. Suffice to say here that both these matters
received careful attention in 1958, and that they
figured from time to time in the reports submitted to
the Public Health Committee and to the Council.
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