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TO THE
MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS
OF THE
BOROUGH OF SOUTHGATE
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to present the Annual Report of the Medical Officer of
Health for the year 1954.
1954 was again a placid year with few, if any, highlights. So
far as infectious diseases were concerned, the total number of cases
notified during the year fell from 1.554 to 276, one of the lowest
totals ever recorded in the Borough. This, of course, was very
largely due to the marked decline in measles notifications, from
1.053 to 28. These matters will be referred to in greater detail in
the body of the Report, but it is meantime satisfactory to record
a year in which infectious diseases played a very minor part in the
life of the community.
In previous Annual Reports, I have emphasised the fact that
epidemiology is no longer concerned merely with infectious diseases.
The term must now embrace the study of any condition or condi'
tions prejudicial to health or, to look at the matter from another
angle, conditions which are capable of causing actual disease.
Although Southgate is extremely fortunate in its character and
amenities, especially the absence of factory development and serious
overcrowding, it is still our duty to make a careful search for any
conditions hidden or disclosed detrimental to health and well'being.
In this connection, I need scarcely stress that it is infinitely easier
to prevent the setting-up of such conditions than to remove them
once they have been established.
It is mainly for this reason that I have long pursued the policy
of bringing all matters affecting health to the notice of the Public
Health Committee. I count myself extremely fortunate that the
Public Health Committee has always studied my perhaps lengthy
statements and reports with the care which one has come to expect
from the Southgate Borough Council. This has greatly heartened
me, since it is almost a truism to say that unless the Public Health
Committee can be supplied with full information, the Medical
Officer of Health has no right to expect the full measure of support
without which success can never be attained.
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