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ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
Medical Officer of Health
FOR THE YEAR 1950.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Borough of Hendon.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report for the
year 1950, this being my twenty-first report as your Medical
Officer of Health.
The general standard of health in the Borough was high
and the following facts are particularly worthy of comment.
The infantile mortality rate fell to a record low figure of
15.9 per 1,000 live births as compared with that of the country
generally of 29.8. In my Annual Report of 1946, in which
year the infantile mortality rate was 29, I stated
"It is unlikely that an infantile mortality rate as
low as has prevailed during the last two years will be
materially reduced excepting in the light of further
scientific knowledge."
This observation as you will see has already been disproved
and the present rate reflects the greatest credit on
the parental care now being exercised and particularly on
that of the mothers, many of whom are raising their families
under conditions of real difficulty.
I am glad to report also that both the notifications and
deaths from Tuberculosis have declined.
The situation as regards Diphtheria is unique, as for
the first time on record no cases were notified in the Borough,
a tribute, 1 believe, to the value of the scheme for
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