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BOROUGH OF WILLESDEN
Health Department,
54, Winchester Avenue,
Kilburn, London, N.W.6.
July, 1955.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Willesden.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to submit the annual report of the health and sanitary circumstances of the Borough for
the year 1954.
There has been a further slight decrease in the population due to a larger scale migration out of than
into the Borough. Both the birth and death-rates were less than the previous year. Indeed, although
Willesden has a high proportion of aged, the death-rate declined to a new low level of less than nine per
thousand.
There was a slight reduction in the number of deaths from cancer in the lungs in men, but unfortunately
this was counterbalanced by the doubling of the number of deaths in women. However, it is
very little different from the previous two years, and there are still four deaths in men to every one in
women. This suggests that although cigarette smoking may play a part, working conditions may be
primarily responsible. Dust at work probably also plays a part in causing the much higher number of
deaths from bronchitis in men as compared with women, and together the numbers are probably higher than
any borough or town of this size in other countries of the world. Atmospheric pollution is undoubtedly a
contributory cause, and Willesden with its power stations, railway sidings, and concentrated industries
suffers to a very marked degree from this.
I regret to have to record an appreciable rise in the tuberculosis mortality for the first time since
the end of the war. There was also an increase in the number of new cases, with the numbers on the register
reaching a new high record of 2,184, as compared with 807 in 1936. This, however, probably results from
the detection of more early cases, and on the whole there has been a marked decline in the tuberculosis
mortality. Clearly, prevention lags behind treatment, and the marked differences between rates in different
social classes and occupations shows where our main effort must be directed. In Willesden, people in a ward
such as Carlton, where there is the most overcrowding among the poorer sections of the population, face
a much greater risk of dying from tuberculosis than those who live in the better-class wards.
The team-work has been improved and extended in the battle against tuberculosis in the detection
of early cases in the homes, schools, and factories, in prevention with B.C.G. vaccination, and treatment in
the home and hospital. But the disease can be conquered finally only when overcrowding and poverty, its
great allies, are overcome.
There has been a further welcome reduction in the numbers suffering from infectious diseases,
such as scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria, poliomyelitis and whooping cough, but there has been a marked
increase in the number suffering from dysentery. Fortunately the disease has been mild, but the occurrence
of several outbreaks in institutions underlines the need for special precautions to be taken in reducing overcrowding
and improving hygiene.
Infant mortality declined to a record low figure of under 20 per thousand and in one ward, Cricklewood,
was actually less than 10. On the other hand, in Carlton it was almost four times as high, and it is
clear that overcrowded conditions played an important role in causing deaths from respiratory infections
and gastro-enteritis, and general poverty in causing prematurity. Again, improvement in living conditions
will produce a great saving of life.
The illegitimate mortality was more than fifty per cent. as high as the legitimate mortality. The
stillbirth rate, related to the neo-natal mortality, declined to a record low level of under 20 per thousand,
much lower than that for the country as a whole. However, next to prematurity, congenital malformations
caused the largest number of neo-natal deaths, and remain largely an unsolved problem. Further studies,
including the effects of nuclear radiation, are therefore becoming more imperative.
On the sanitary side, overcrowded dilapidated houses still remain the biggest problem. The Council
extended its house-to-house survey to selected areas in all parts of the borough. The aim is gradually being
achieved of preserving property which, if neglected, would rapidly deteriorate into slums and then require
demolition. The house-to-house survey based on the Housing and Public Health Acts, of 1936, has proved
much more effective in securing improvements to properties in a poor state of repair than the Housing
Repairs and Rents Act, 1954, which does not seem to have been used much by landlords in Willesden to raise
their housing standards and rents.
The general improvement in the sanitary conditions of factories for which the local authority is
responsible has been maintained. An interesting innovation was the introduction of an occupational
service for Borough Council employees, which includes the supervision of working conditions and of firstaid
equipment and arrangements, assistance given to employees suffering from disability or chronic illness
and to those who have been regularly absent from work on account of sickness, and advice on suitable
employment.