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7
PREFACE.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit the Thirty-seventh Annual Report on the health of
the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich.
The Report, in accordance with the instructions of the Council, follows the
outline indicated by the Ministry of Health, in Circular 1650, in order to ensure
uniformity in the presentation of Annual Reports of Medical Officers throughout the
country.
It is customary to preface the Annual Report by a brief reference to some of its
principal contents. It is not possible to touch on all of them but a moment's glance
at the table of contents will show the many ramifications and the diversity of
the Department's work to-day.
The population of the Borough is estimated by the Registrar General at 149,400
persons at the middle of the year, an increase of 2,900 on 1936. This is the total
population and it includes non-civilians; it is on this figure that the rates of the
Borough are calculated. It is now seven years since the Census was taken and the
factors from which the population is calculated are in consequence uncertain. There
is evidence of migration from Woolwich to surrounding districts and into Woolwich
from the central London Boroughs but it is not possible to measure this movement
with any degree of accuracy and it may be that the recent increase of work locally
has brought about a greater influx of people into Woolwich than these figures indicate.
The general death-rate was 11.1 per thousand of the population; in 1936 it
was 11.2, the lowest recorded rate being 9.9 in 1923. Amongst the general causes of
death, diseases of the heart stand highest, principally in the later years of life. The
next most numerous causes of death are cancer, respiratory diseases, and tuberculosis.