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2
Telephone: Public Health Department,
Feltham 2281 and 3281 Council Offices,
Feltham.
July 1961.
To: The Chairman and members of the Feltham Urban
District Council.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to present the Annual Report on the Health and
Sanitation of your District for the year 1960.
The vital statistics for 1960 show the usual annual
variations and again compare favourably with the statistics
for the county and for the country as a whole. The
Birth Rate of 17.2 is the highest recorded in the district
during the last ten years and at the same time the Infant
Mortality Rate fell by 6.6 to 18.2 compared with a figure of
21.7 for England and Wales. These figures taken together
with the fact that once again there were no maternal deaths
must indicate the benefits of good ante.natal care which is
available to every woman under the National Health Service.
However, on the debit side there was an increase in the
Still Birth Rate at 18.9 which although below the national
figure of 19.7 indicates that continued efforts in perfecting
and also in maintaining the present high standard of antenatal
care are still needed.
The majority of infant deaths still occur during the first
week of life with congenital abnormalities as the main cause.
Obviously some agent be it virus or drug has so damaged the
foetus in utero that it was not possible to maintain life
for very long after birth. It is to be hoped that medical research
will be able to throw some more light on this important
subject and so enable us to raise the standard of preventive
care even higher.
The Death Rate fell to 11.5 which compares with a
similar rate for England and Wales. Fifty per cent of the
deaths registered in the district were of people over 70 years
of age.
It is pleasing to report a relatively good year in the
district in respect of infectious diseases. This was marred
only by a slight increase in the number of cases of whooping
cough and dysentery indicating the need for continued efforts
in immunisation and careful personal hygiene respectively.