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6
Public Health Department,
Council Offices,
Billet Lane,
HORNCHURCH.
10th August, 1950.
To tlie Chairman and Members of the
Hornchurch Urban District Council.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to present to you the Annual Report of my Department
for the year 1949, the main considerations being noted below and
a more detailed report on certain aspects of the public health being
embodied later.
Vital Statistics.
The civilian population of the district is 102,300 at mid-year
1949.
The birth rate at 16.0 is the lowest post-war figure recorded
and continues the post-war fall. It is also slightly below the average
for the country generally.
The death rate at 10.6 is the highest post-war rate but this year
the Area .Comparability Factor (which has the effect of standardising
the national figures but of raising the Hornchurch local figure)
has again been introduced. There is nevertheless a slight rise in
this rate.
The infant mortality rate of 17.6 is the lowest figure yet
recorded in this district in this connection. Whilst the causes of
infant deaths are so varied and are in the present state of our knowledge
far from wholly preventable, some annual fluctuations in this
rate are to be expected, but this year's figure is outstandingly satisfactory,
compared for example witli the figure of 32 which applies
to the country as a whole.
Infectious Diseases.
The Tuberculosis death rate has dropped, as has the number
of notifications. Scarlet Fever notifications have risen ; Measles
rose steeply and Whooping Cough showed reduction—all during
the year.
The Infantile Paralysis incidence dropped very slightly as
compared to 1948.
Food and Drugs.
Following an application under Section 64 of the Food and
Drugs Act, 1938, the Minister of Health, as from 1st November,
1949, approved this Authority as a Food and Drugs Authority.
This represents a recognition of real significance which comes at a
time when it is becoming increasingly difficult for any but the