View report page

3
Borough of Mitcham
HEALTH REPORT FOR 1949
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors.
Madam, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have much pleasure in submitting the annual report for the
year 1949.
During most of the year Dr. A. Ashworth was Medical Officer
of Health, but he left in October, 1949, to take up his new
position as Medical Officer of Health of Brisbane, Australia.
Dr. A. W. Johns (Medical Officer of Health of Merton and Morden
Urban District) then carried on until the end of the year as Acting
Medical Officer of Health.
The year was a very good one as regards infectious diseases,
the incidence of disease and the severity being generally of a
low order.
In this connection probably the most outstanding point of
interest is that only one case of diphtheria occurred. This
compares with a yearly average of 60 for the 20-year period
1927-1946, so that there almost certainly has occurred a considerable
saving of lives and illness as a result of immunisation.
Although 1949 was a bad year in England and Wales for
poliomyelitis, ranking second only to 1947, Mitcham was fortunate
in having only six cases, plus one fatal case of polio encephalitis.
The birth rate, which reached the high level of 21.39 in 1947.
dropped again to a figure of 16.45, corresponding to that which
occurred in England and Wales generally.