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14
Census held in 1951—the first to be held for twenty years. Although
the full results will not be available for some time, a preliminary
outline is now available and relevant extracts of local interest are
shown on pages 59 to 62. The tables show that, although the
populations of England and Wales, Greater London and Essex
have all increased substantially since 1931, the population of
Leyton has decreased by 23,130 (18%). Some 42% of households
in the Borough live in shared dwellings. In the twenty years
since 1931 there has been a reduction in the average number of
persons per room (from 0.86 to 0.76), and in the number of persons
per household (from 3.59 to 2.94). A study of the tables shows to
what extent dwellings in Leyton are lacking in recognised domestic
amenities.
Infectious Diseases.
For over half a century it has been recognised that one of the
chief functions of a public health department has been the prevention
and control of infectious diseases, especially those that killed and
maimed infants, young children and mothers. Those of us who
remember the high fatahty and morbidity rates of the so-called
commoner infectious diseases during the early decades of this
century can at least claim that our efforts have been successful—in
fact so very successful that it has been found possible to close
altogether many infectious disease hospitals throughout the country,
and to allocate for other purposes a large proportion of beds in other
hospitals formerly used for the isolation and treatment of fever
patients.
In my Annual Report for 1950 I included facts and figures
showing the great reduction in deaths from infectious diseases
during the last fifty years. That reduction, along with the great
fall in deaths of infants under one year of age, has been largely
responsible for the great increase in the expectation in life and
the fundamental change in the age constitution of the population.
In just over fifty years the average span of human life has
been increased by some twenty-two years, and the proportion of the
population over sixty-five years of age has been more than doubled.
Facts and figures such as these represent a wonderful achievement,
and serve to counteract the present-day tendency to decry
the efforts of preventive, in favour of, curative, medicine. The
preventive health services have justified and consolidated their
position as a vital part of central and local government, and it is
to their credit that they have been able to do so without impoverishing
the financial resources of the country.