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7
COUNTY BOROUGH OF EAST HAM
Public Health Department,
Town Hall Annexe, E.6.
July, 1949.
To the Worshipful the Mayor, the Aldermen and
Councillors of the County Borough of East Ham.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present nay Annual Report as Medical
Officer of Health and School Medical Officer for the year 1948.
The Minister, in a memorandum dealing with its preparation,
states that as regards some aspects of the health services the
Medical Officer of Health will report in regard to the first half
of the year before the changes which took effect under the National
Health Service Act, 1946. If a local health authority under the
Act, his report should include a review of the working of all the
local health services provided under Part III of the Act since 5th
July. 1948—for this reason it will be seen that the report is
submitted in two parts.
The Registrar-General's mid-year estimate of the population
was 121,100, an increase of 2,430 persons.
The number of inhabited houses has risen during the year by
1,188. The building programme and generous rehousing schemes
undertaken by the Council have already made a considerable
contribution towards improving the health of rehoused families
in the community. The effect of housing on health cannot be
over-estimated. Much personal, mental and physical disability
is engendered or accentuated by overcrowded or inadequate living
conditions.
As was anticipated, the birth rate has not reached the high
level of last year but at 18.1 per 1,000 of the population it gives
a favourable indication of the age incidence of residents of the
borough.
The infant mortality rate shews further decline from 30 to 26
per 1,000, whereas that for England and Wales is 34. Similar
statistics for the past three years have been the lowest respectively
in the history of East Ham, and for 1948 I have pleasure again in
recording this fact, a laudatory commentary on the health work of
the borough. Fifty years ago in this borough one baby in seven
did not survive the first year of life—today not one infant in forty
shares this unhappy fate !