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Wanstead and Woodford Borough Council
To the mayor, aldermen and councillors,
borough of wanstead and woodford.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have to submit my Annual Report on the Health
Services in the Borough for the year 1953. As in former years, a section
of the report is given to those services under the National Health
Service Act which are administered by the Essex County Council and
decentralised to the Forest Health Area Sub-Committee of the County
Health Committee. An account of the work of the School Health
Service is also included.
Vital Statistics.
The total number of live births for the year was 791, an increase
of 40 as compared with the previous year. The Birth Rate per
thousand of the population is 12.9, as compared with 15.5 for England
and Wales. The number of deaths was 643 as compared with 666 for
1952, this giving a Death Rate per thousand of 10.4 as compared with
11.4 for England and Wales.
The infant mortality rate, i.e. the death rate of infants under one
year pf age per thousand live births was 25.2 as compared with 26.8
for England and Wales.
Causes of Death.
The main causes of death were diseases of the heart and arteries
and cancer. The number of deaths from the latter cause shows little
change during the past four years, the figures varying between 124
and 130.
Infectious Disease.
(a Diphtheria.
Two cases of diphtheria occurred during the early part of the
year, the first to have been reported for over five years. Both were
very mild infections in young adult males living in different parts of
the Borough. No common source of infection could be traced. Recovery
was rapid in each instance. These cases, mild though they were,
serve as a grim warning that diphtheria is still a disease to be
reckoned with, and that we must continue our campaign for the
immunisation of children with the utmost vigour.
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