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PREFACE
HEALTH REPORT FOR THE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF WOOLWICH, 1964
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present the 64th and last Annual Report
on the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich.
The publication of this Report had, of necessity, to be
delayed due to the reorganisation of London Local Government.
Turing the whole of the year 1964 detailed arrangements were
being made for the merging of the Local Authority Health and Welfare
Services into one new Department so that there would be no disruption
of the local services. The merging of the Local Authority Health
and Welfare Services Into a combined Health and Welfare Department
of the new Borough of Greenwich has been widely welcomed as giving a
wonderful opportunity to expand this work and, at the same time to
preserve the best of the old foundations well and truly laid by the
former Authorities,
Before closing the Preface to my last Report I should like
briefly to refer to the chief events in 1964 so far as the old
Woolwich area is concerned.
The infant death rate for the Borough of Woolwich was for the
second year, the lowest on record at 16.9. a similar figure to that
for the year 1960. It is indeed gratifying to report that during
the year there were only three deaths attributable to tuberculosis.
This is an astonishing fact which even 20 years ago would have been
thought Impossible to achieve. This remarkable reduction is the
result of continuous efforts over many years by the Chest Physicians;
the greatly improved methods of detecting chest disease; the better
utilization of the preventive services; the success of the B.C.G.
vaccination scheme; and, of course, the modern drugs available.
One disturbing aspect of the Borough's statistics continues
to be the increasing number of deaths from cancer, totalling 366 in
the year 1964. This is by far the highest number on record for
the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich, and an increase of 39 on the
previous year. 99 of the cancer deaths were from carcinoma of the
lung or bronchus. I can only again stress the seriousness of
smoking and the need for more publicity and a greater awareness of
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