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PREFACE
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich.
MR. MAYOR, IADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
I have pleasure in submitting the Fifty-Seventh Annual Report
on the health of the Borough of Woolwich, the Report being on the
lines requested by the Minister of Health.
The Registrar General's estimate of the mid-year population
for the Borough is 146,200, being a decrease of 1,300 on the previous
year and a decrease of 5,600 on the comparable figure for 1952.
This steady drop in the population during the last five years is
partly due to less overcrowding and partly, especially in the last
two years, to a reduction in the number of military personnel
stationed in the Borough.
The general health of the Borough remains good.
There were no maternal deaths in 1957. There was an increase
of 16 in the number of infant deaths. This increase is almost
wholly accounted for by premature births and conditions associated
therewith. Premature birth is the biggest single cause of infantile
death, and when this cause has been fully resolved a further
substantial reduction in the Infantile Mortality Rate can be expected.
Concerning illness from infectious diseases, the incidence of
poliomyelitis was on a small scale, and no deaths have been recorded
in the Borough during the last two years.An increasing number of
parents are now taking advantage of the increased supply of vaccine,
and have agreed to their children being inoculated. Dysentery in
young children in its mild sonne form continues to have a transient
but upsetting effect on family life. Asian flu was prevalent in the
area during the Autumn months. It spread from school to school and
in a short time resulted in many temporary absences. Woolwich also
had its share of measles cases which was also prevalent in London.
Deaths from malignant diseases totalled 313, of which 80 deaths
were from cancer of the lung and bronchus. It is now generally
accepted by the medical profession that there is a strong association
between the increased death rate from cancer of the lung and bronchus,
and smoking and pollution of the air.
Most of the time of the District Public Health Inspectors has
again been concerned with the inspection of dwellings, and the
remedying of defects. With the advent of the Rent Act, 1957, the
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