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Town Hall,
Dyne Road, Kilburn, N.W. 6.
1st May, 1932.
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 1931. This
Report includes:—
(i.) The 56th Annual Report on the health and sanitary condition of the district;
(ii.) The 24th Annual Report on the health of children attending the public elementary
schools;
(iii.) The 12th Annual Report on the health of children attending secondary and trade
schools;
(iv.) The 14th 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 2nd Annual Report on the Supervision of Midwives.
(vi.) The 2nd Annual Report on the Registration of Nursing Homes.
(vii.) The 2nd Annual Report on Infant Life Protection.
(viii.) The 12th Annual Report on home nursing ;
(ix.) The 17th Annual Report on the provision of meals to children attending the public
elementary schools;
(x.) The 40th Annual Report on the Municipal Hospital.
(xi.) The 1st Annual Report on the Maternity Hospital ;
(xii.) The 2nd Annual Report on the health of patients attending the Middlesex County
Council Occupation Centre for Mentally Defectives, Buller Road, Willesden.
(xiii.) The 1st Annual Report on Nursery Classes.
The Report is written in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Health and
Board of Education.
VITAL STATISTICS.
The estimated population of Willesden at Midsummer, 1931, was 185,704.
2,838 live births were registered during 1931, giving a birth rate of 15.28 per 1,000 of the
population, as against 15.99 in 1930. 105 still births were registered, giving a still birth rate of
35.68 per 1,000 total live and still births.
1,935 deaths were registered in 1931, giving a death rate of 10.42 per 1,000 of the
population. These figures compare with a total number of deaths of 1,762 and a death-rate
of 9.82 in 1930.
The infant mortality rate in 1931 was 60.25 per 1,000 births.
171 deaths of infants under one year occurred. 133 or 77.8 per cent. of these 171 deaths
were due to:—
1. Congenital Malformations 9, Premature Birth 51, Atrophy, Debility and Marasmus
9, Atelectasis 9;
2. Diarrhoea and Enteritis 16;
3. Whooping Cough 6;
4. Measles 0;
5. Bronchitis 3, and
6. Pneumonia 30.
Year by year these six causes of death account for some three-quarters of all deaths of infants
under one year of age and active measures are required to prevent these conditions proving fatal.
The infantile mortality rate in 1931 was 60.25 per 1,000 births. In Appendix A will be found
the infantile mortality rate in each of the wards in Willesden. It is interesting to observe that the
highest infant mortality rate was in the Brondesbury Park ward, where it was 116.27, followed
by the Stonebridge Ward, where it was 78.55. The lowest infant mortality rate was in Kensal Rise,
where it was 36.58, Mid-Kilburn being next with 44.00. The position of the Brondesbury Park
ward in this respect shows that the prevention of infant mortality is largely a matter of the special
education of the mother and the special care of the child under one year of age. Because a person
is well off and generally well educated it does not necessarily follow that she has the necessary special
knowledge for the up-bringing of an infant.