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11
Birth, have undergone no defined increase or reduction in Stoke
Newington during the five years 1921-5. In England and Wales
for the same period there has been an increase in the deaths from
Heart Disease and a reduction in the deaths from Premature Birth.
The very marked rise in the Birth-rate in 1920 was probably
an incident due to the return home of the bulk of the troops who
had been engaged in the Great War, and it was only a temporary
check to the decline in the Birth-rate which had set in many years
previously. This decline has continued throughout the five years
1921-25, and it can be explained only by the increasing knowledge
and application of methods of birth control among the general
population. It is inevitable that a still further growth of this
knowledge and practice, in view of the difficult times of unemployment
and housing deficiency which are destined to continue for
many years, will lead to a further reduction in the Birth-rate in
the future, without any assistance from the propaganda which
some advocate to that end.
CANCER.
In the population of Stoke Newington those in the late age
periods of life are somewhat more numerous than in most large
communities, and this circumstance tends to favour a high Cancer
rate. If allowance is made for this fact, the increased mortality
from this disease during the past five years has been practically the
same as that for England and Wales as a whole.
It is calculated that in this disease there is an average loss of
about one year before submitting to skilled treatment, and that not
one person in ten comes sufficiently early for effective treatment.
The problem is to get the case into the hands of a competent
medical adviser while it is still in the early and curable stage, or
even more fortunately, while the patient exhibits merely those
conditions which are recognised as danger signals of cancer. If
people will only pay attention to these danger signals and early seek
medical advice, thousands of premature deaths can be prevented.