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7
Municipal Offices,
Dyne Road, Kilburn, N.W. 6.
30th April, 1921.
To the Willesden Urban District Council—
The Local Sanitary Authority,
and the Local Education Authority.
I beg to submit herewith the Annual Health Report for Willesden for the year 1920. This
report includes:—
(i.) the 45th Annual Report on the health and sanitary condition of the district;
(ii.) the 13th Annual Report on the health of children attending the public elementary
schools;
(iii.) the 1st Annual Report on the Health of children attending Secondary Schools;
(iv.) the 3rd Annual Report on Dental Work in connection with children attending the
Public Elementary Schools, expectant and nursing mothers and children under
5 years;
(v.) the 1st Annual Report on Home Nursing;
(vi.) the 6th Annual Report on the provision of meals to children attending the public
elementary schools, expectant and nursing mothers, and children under 5 years;
and
(vii.) the 29th Annual Report on the Municipal Hospital.
The Annual Health Report for a district is written by the Medical Officer of Health under
instructions received from the Ministry of Health and the Board of Education. The Annual Health
Report for 1919 followed these instructions closely, and this year, where the conditions have not
changed, reference is made to the Annual Health Report for last year.
Vital Statistics.
The year 1920 has been a record year in the health annals of Willesden. The population is the
highest on record, while the death rate and the infant mortality rate are the lowest ever recorded.
Population.—At the Census of 1911 each inhabited room in Willesden was occupied on the
average by 1 -007 persons. Assuming that the average number of occupants per occupied room is the
same in 1920 as 1911 the population of Willesden is 170,892.
Birth Rate.—The number of births in Willesden, after falling to 2,651 in 1918, the lowest
during the war period, has risen to 4,232 in 1920, a greater number than in any year since 1907. The
birth rate of 24 -8 per 1,000 of the population for the year 1920 exceeds the rate for the two pre war
years 1913 and 1914, when it was 24-7.
Death Rate.—During the year 1920, 1,672 deaths occurred in Willesden, giving a death rate
of 9-78 per thousand, which is the lowest on record.
Infant Mortality Rate.—274 infants under one year died during 1920, giving an Infant
Mortality Rate of 65 per 1,000 births, which is the lowest ever recorded. The Infant Mortality Rate
amongst legitimate births was 59, and illegitimate births 223, which facts alone indicate that the
proper care and nurture of the child is an important item in determining longevity.
Infectious Diseases.
During the year 2,281 notifications of compulsorily notifiable Infectious Diseases were received.
Of this number 705 were cases of Scarlet Fever, and 699 cases of Diphtheria. The number of cases of
Scarlet Fever is the third highest number ever recorded in Willesden, and the figure for Diphtheria
the highest on record.
The concurrent prevalence of epidemics of Diphtheria and Scarlet Fever in 1920 have greatly
taxed the hospital accommodation for these diseases, which was already insufficient, and for which no
additional provision had been made since 1902. Fortunately the type of disease was on the whole
mild, the fatality rate amongst Scarlet Fever cases being 11 per thousand, and Diphtheria cases 62
per thousand. It is not, of course, practical to have a hospital of sufficient dimensions to take all
cases of Diphtheria and Scarlet Fever and possibly other Infectious Diseases which may from time to
time appear in epidemic form ; nevertheless there is urgent need for additional hospital accommodation.
I do not advocate additional hospital accommodation for Infectious Diseases with the view of the
prevention of the disease, for the Isolation Hospital as a means of prevention has failed, but I am
satisfied from an analysis of the records that hospital provision is a means of reducing the mortality
from Infectious Diseases, and is one of the factors to which the saving of lives and the consequent low
death rate in Willesden may be properly attributed.
The difficulty in stamping out Infectious Diseases arises from the fact that many cases are
infectious for prolonged periods, others are intermittently infectious over long periods, while others