View report page

ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
MEDICAL OFFICER
OF HEALTH
1957
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Wimbledon, S.W.19.
August, 1958.
To The Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Wimbledon.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit the Annual Report on the work of the
Public Health Department for the year 1957. This Report is compiled
in accordance with the instructions contained in Circular 1/58 of the
Ministry of Health and is on similar lines to previous years.
The Report shows that the health of the residents has been good
during the year and that progress has been made in many directions.
The corrected live birth rate for Wimbledon in 1957 was 13.16 per
thousand of the population compared with a rate of 13.94 for 1956.
The rate for England and Wales for the year was 161. The corrected
death rate for the Borough during the period was 9.61 compared with
9.88 in 1956 and 11.5 for England and Wales. This is one of the lowest
death rates recorded in Wimbledon. The excess of births over deaths
was 138 compared with 134 in the previous year.
There were no maternal deaths.
The infantile mortality rate for 1957 was the lowest yet recorded
for Wimbledon. A total of nine children under the age of one year died
during the year giving an infantile mortality rate of 11.40 per thousand
live births compared with a rate of 23.1 for England and Wales.
A low infantile mortality rate is generally regarded as a fairly
accurate pointer to the state of the public health of a community, and
this low figure is an indication of improved public health and social
standards of the people and is a tribute to the medical services of this
community. It is unlikely that these rates will be very much improved
in the future.
Once again, the principal cause of death was heart disease,
especially coronary disease, while cancer was the second greatest cause.
1