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ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR THE YEAR 1957
July, 1958
To the Chairman and Members of the
Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Councils:
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
This report sets out in a rather dry factual form the
details of the work carried out by the Public Health Department
during 1957. As the report shows, there was no serious epidemic
or other emergency during the year sufficient to upset the
normal routine of the department's work. This routine work is
by its very nature rather humdrum and unspectacular and in the
absence of any epidemic or other catastrophy it does not make
the headlines in the newspapers. Nevertheless, this daily
attention to detail is the foundation on which the environmental
safety of the community is based. It is in the nature of
things that the success of public health work goes unmarked and
the fact that there is indeed nothing of a spectacular nature
to report is in itself an indication of success. It is perhaps
unfortunate that so much public health work goes unnoticed by
the general public because from so many angles the wholehearted
co-operation of the general public is so necessary.
There is little to say about the vital statistics for
1957. The birth rate and death rate are both very similar to
the rates for the previous year while the infant mortality rate
shows an increase - it is for 1957 almost the same as the
national rate. The causes of the various infant deaths occurring
under one year of age are set out in the report and it will be
seen that most of these deaths have occurred from causes about
which our knowledge is still far from complete. Careful enquiry
is made into the circumstances connected with each case and
everything possible is done to try to find what in fact was the
underlying cause. Unfortunately, it is evident that a great
deal of research is still needed into this branch of medical
work before this problem of infant mortality can be solved.
Most deaths of infants now occur in the early hours or days of
life and in fact, the problems are exactly similar to the
problems of finding out what causes still birth. In many
instances, it is equally possible for a baby to die before,
during or soon after birth; if the baby dies before birth it is
then counted asastill birth; if the baby dies after birth it is
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