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Public Health Department
White Hart Lane (Old) School
Wood Green N. 22
June 1955
To The MAYOR ALDERMEN and COUNCILLORS
Of the BOROUGH OP WOOD GREEN
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 1 232 to 365 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 778 to 29 These matters will be referred to in greater
detail in the body of the Report but it is meantime satisfactory
to be able to record a year in which infectious diseases played
a comparatively minor part in the life of the community
In previous Annual Reports I have emphasized the fact that
epidemiology is no longer concerned merely with infectious
diseases The term must now embrace the study of any condition
or conditions prejudicial to health or to look at the matter
from another angle conditions which are capable of causing
actual disease Although Wood Green is extremely fortunate in its
character and amenities especially the absence of major factory
development and serious overcrowding on an optimum scale it is
still our duty to make a careful search for any conditions hidden
or disclosed which are detrimental to health and well being in
this connection I need scarcely emphasize 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 statements
and reports with the care which one has come to expect from Wood
Green 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 that full measure of support without
which success can never be achieved
With regard to the vital statistics for 1954 these were
also satisfactory.The birth rate (10,8)once again shows a slight
decrease from the rate for 1953 which was 11 6 This gradual
decline is of course in keeping with the trend shown throughout
the country The death rate has also fallen from 11 5 in 1952 to
10 04 in 1953 and 9 6 in 1954 The Infantile Mortality Rate i e
the death of infants under one year of age fell from 28 3 to
26 6 I would once again stress that the totals involved are too
small to provide us with yearly variations which can be accorded
real significance It is however satisfactory to be able to
record that the Infant Mortality Rate has in fact fallen When
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