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about by transference of staff to the Middlesex County Council
under the National Health Service, w ill be found set out on pages
7 and 8 of this Report. The staffs employed on public health
duties under the Borough Council at 1st January and 5th July,
1948, have been set out separately, so that the alteration in personnel
can be fully appreciated.
Opportunity has been taken in the body of this Report to
comment on such aspects of the year's work as appear to call
for special consideration. Particular reference is made to health
education and immunisation. Southgate has been very active in
both these phases of public health for many years. The results
of our immunisation campaign are now showing themselves in a
very clear pattern. Although the effects of health education may
not be so obvious, I am none the less satisfied that our work has
been fully justified, and that the results will be manifest for many
years to come. The work of the Sanitary Section is also featured
in the Report, with particular emphasis to housing.
From the point of view of vital statistics, 1948 has been one
of the outstanding years in the health history of Southgate. The
birth rate has fallen from 16.76 to 13.69 but is still higher than the
pre-war average. The death rafe has fallen from 11.5 in 1947 to
10.40, the increase of births over deaths for the year being 244.
The Infantile Mortality Rate, which was 32.90 in 1947, has
fallen to 22.68, by far the lowest figure yet recorded in the district.
The Still-birth Rate shows a corresponding decrease, from 24.30
in 1947 to 14.58 in 1948. This is again the lowest figure recorded
in Southgate. It is also pleasing to report that, for the second
year in succession, no maternal deaths were recorded. The last
maternal death took place on 6th December, 1946. Since that
time, 2,334 births have occurred without a maternal fatality. It
is equally pleasing to be able to state that there were no deaths
from zymotic diseases (including measles, whooping cough,
diarrhoea diphtheria) in children under the age of five, or indeed
in persons in any other age group. So far as I can ascertain,
this is the first time that the zymotic death rate has been nil for
a period of twelve months.
It is particularly satisfactory that again no cases of diphtheria
occurred in Southgate during the year. It is now over a year
since a case of this disease was reported; the last case of diphtheria
in a child took place in October, 1945. This will be referred to in
greater detail in the section of the Report dealing with Immunisation.
It would, of course, be highly dangerous to draw any farreaching
conclusions from these figures, excellent as they may be.
Although we can take pleasure in the knowledge that the vital
statistics present the brightest picture yet recorded in the
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