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7
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
Public Health Department,
" Kynaston Court,"
Harrow Weald.
To His Worship the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of
Harrow.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit the AnnuaJ Report on the health and
sanitary conditions of the district for the year 1962.
The vital statistics for the year foUowed a similar pattern to those in
the previous year, with a rise in both birth rate and death rate. The fall
in infant mortality rate noted in 1961 was not maintained and there was a
rise to a rate of 22-5 per 1,000 live births. The majority of the infant
deaths occurred in infants less than four weeks old and were due in the
main to congenital defects and prematurity. It is hoped that the outcome
of further research and national surveys on peri-natal mortality will help
to reduce this infant mortality rate, but in the meantime one must ensure
the highest degree of Ante-natal and Post-natal care for mother and child.
Deaths from Cancer of the Lung were only up by three on last year's
figures which had in turn shown a slight fall on the figure for 1960.
However, the figure is still much too high. During the year the Antismoking
Campaign was continued, making use of lectures and poster
display material issued by the Ministries of Health and Education.
1962 also saw a change in the commercial advertisements, not a falling off
in smoking propaganda, but rather a change to a more general approach
to the public on smoking rather than concentrating on putting over the
"benefits" to the teenage population. Personally, I feel that with regards
to health education and smoking, the adult population have had the full
facts of "Smoking and Lung Cancer" presented to them through a
variety of media—press—posters—pamphlets—lectures—television—
wireless and initiative as to personal action must now rest with them and
for the future our propaganda should concentrate on the young person
before they acquire the habit.
The routine work of the Health Department in relation to inspection
and supervision of housing, factories, shops, places of entertainment, etc.,
continued throughout the year. Investigation of complaints, of nuisances,
follow-up and tracing of contacts in certain infectious diseases, inspection
and supervision of food and the extension of the Borough's Smoke
Control Programme kept the inspectorate and office staff at full stretch,
Comparison of the smoke and sulphur dioxide measurements for the
various districts during the November/December fog shows quite definitely
the benefits of smoke control orders.